Shane Watson: 'I personally am not a massive fan of' Impact Player rule

Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) assistant coach, Shane Watson, has jumped on the bandwagon of players who have voiced their opinions about the Impact Player rule in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Watson feels that the rule is detrimental to the growth and development of allrounders, robbing them of valuable opportunities to make a case for themselves.

Watson namedropped KKR's batting allrounder Ramandeep Singh to elucidate his stance against the Impact Player rule and spoke highly of him. He asserted that Ramandeep hasn't had the kind of opportunities to bowl enough in the last few seasons because of the rule.

"A rule like the Impact Player rule, I personally am not a massive fan of, and that just comes from an all-round perspective, all-round cricketer development," Watson said. "Unless you're a world-class allrounder, especially from a bowling perspective, you're not bowling in an IPL game unless there's an injury or something happens.

"Because that Impact Player, that sixth bowler, who's a frontline bowler, will get that opportunity to be able to bowl. Think about Ramandeep Singh here at KKR. He's a highly skilled bowler. He's got great skills, but because of this Impact Player rule, he's hardly bowled at all over the last couple of seasons," he added.

The former Aussie allrounder said that the onset of the rule has adversely impacted the evolution of the Indian allrounders, in particular.

"That's the main reason why I don't like the Impact Player rule, because I see it really stunting the growth of allrounders coming through, and especially the Indian allrounders are not going to get more opportunities. World-class allrounders, if they're already there, they're going to get the opportunity to bat and bowl anyway."

However, he also mentioned that the rule has allowed batters to throw caution to the wind and bat with that "extra bit of freedom", knowing that there's an extra batter available to extend the batting order longer than usual.

"But the Impact Player rule certainly provided that extra bit of freedom for the batters to not ever be in cruise control. It's always attack, because they know they've got that cushion of at least an extra batter to be able to pick up the pace if things don't go well. So that alone has meant that we're seeing some pretty amazing things that are on display," he added.