Sunrisers Hyderabad‘s left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed remarked on Friday that contrary to popular belief, the much-debated ‘Impact Player’ rule has posed a greater challenge for bowlers rather than all-rounders.
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Shahbaz Ahmed On Impact Player Rule
“Now every team has in total 9 batters, an all-rounder, and eight batters. Also, the teams look for players, who can strike big from ball one and carry on the momentum till the end. The ‘Impact Player’ rule has affected bowlers more than all-rounders because this gives batters the cushion to play freely,” Shahbaz told PTI.
“The teams didn’t know much about how to use it (Impact Player) last season. The all-rounders have a reduced role, which means they are getting a lesser chance to bowl, unlike earlier times when they used to bowl four overs. A lot of all-rounders are facing this. now they get to bowl one or two overs, this is true, this is visible to everyone, but I think, the batters who used to anchor games, has also gone down significantly.” he added.
This season, Shahbaz has participated in 12 matches, amassing 186 runs at a strike rate exceeding 138. However, his primary expertise in left-arm spin has not yielded significant results, with only three wickets acquired at an economy rate of 10.60.
Shahbaz pointed out that during the inaugural season, teams struggled to grasp the effective utilization of an ‘Impact Player.’ However, as teams gained familiarity with the concept, even conventional roles like batting anchors are starting to diminish in importance.
The Bengal all-rounder commended skipper Pat Cummins for his role in fostering a stress-free environment within the SRH dressing room, which has evidently translated into improved on-field performances. SRH has already secured a spot in the last four stage with 15 points.
“If I talk about myself whenever Pat throws the ball to me, he always backs me. This sort of helps me to soak in pressure well and even if the ball goes to the boundary, he doesn’t say anything and keeps motivating all bowlers. He and the coach (Daniel Vettori) have created such an environment that no player in the camp ever feels that there’s any sort of pressure. The players are playing freely, we enjoy playing under his captaincy and that has what helped us to perform well”. Shahbaz said.
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