Former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) star Moeen Ali blamed the ‘Impact Player’ rule in the IPL after India’s huge defeat to England in the third T20I. The Men in Blue were hammered by England, crashing to a 125-run loss.
Chasing 202, India were bundled out for just 76 runs in 11.4 overs. Moeen Ali reckoned that the visitors had lost the art of batting in this format due to the impact player rule.
“The impact player makes a big difference in the IPL. I think they have lost the art of batting in T20 cricket. Whether you are three down , four down, five down in the powerplay. Dube coming in at number eight and sending Rana ahead of him, I know it’s because it is a right-hander, but you are picking a team full of left-handers, you can’t just do that,” he said on the ‘Beard Before Wicket‘ podcast.
The Indian batters struggled to build partnerships and put up a fight as they were nowhere in the chase. They kept losing wickets right from the start and failed to recover from the early blows.
England cricketers on how the ‘Impact Player’ rule is affecting the Indian team
Diving further into the discussion about the impact player rule, Moeen Ali added that it was taking away the skills required to bat in different conditions and situations. He reflected that slogging from the word go would not help in international cricket.
Further, Moeen also highlighted that the impact player rule is also affecting how India picks their side. He reckoned that in the IPL, you could pick any team and then add a batter or a bowler as needed later on, which is not the case in international cricket.
“I will always come back to the impact player in the IPL. I think it is taking away the art of batting in conditions and situations, more than anything. You can’t just come out and keep slogging from ball one. You have to pick the team well. With an impact player, you don’t have to pick the team well and can just put in a batter or bowler. But there’s no like after picking a side to these conditions,” he said.
England spinner Adil Rashid, also playing in the ongoing T20I series, added in the same conversation that some players would never learn to handle and overcome pressure due to the impact player rule.
“Certain players, if they don’t know how to pull the pressure and overcome that, they just replace with the impact player, then they will never know how to overcome that pressure when they go to a higher level, when they play international. When they are in that situation, they don’t know what to do. Not what to do, but they don’t have the experience to do it,” he stated.
India are now 0-2 down in the five-match series. They will have to win both remaining games to draw level. The fourth T20I will be played on Thursday, July 8, in Bristol.
Edited by Rishab Vm
