Updated October 2026 | All stats are as of the end of IPL 2026 (final played 31 May 2026).
The Impact Player rule lets each IPL team replace one member of its starting XI with a substitute at almost any point in a match. Teams name five substitutes at the toss, and the player who comes in can bat and bowl a full four overs, while the player he replaces takes no further part. The rule was introduced in IPL 2023 and has been kept for the 2025-2027 cycle. In effect it lets a side play with an extra specialist batter or bowler, and it is the main reason IPL scoring has risen so sharply since 2023.
| Rule summary | |
|---|---|
| Introduced | IPL 2023 (trialled in the 2022-23 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy) |
| Applies to | Every IPL match; both teams can use it |
| Substitutes named | Five, listed with the XI after the toss |
| Substitutions allowed | One per team per match |
| Overseas limit | The Impact Player must be Indian if the XI already has four overseas players |
| Key limit | Replaced player cannot return, even as a substitute fielder |
| Status | Retained for 2025, 2026 and 2027 |
Impact Player Rule: What This Rule Actually Says
Under the playing conditions, each team names its starting XI and five substitutes after the toss. During the match, the captain or team management can bring one of those five into the game as the Impact Player, replacing any member of the XI. The captain informs the on-field umpire, who signals the change by crossing his arms above his head.
- The Impact Player can be introduced before the start of either innings, at the end of an over, or when a wicket falls or a batter retires.
- If the fielding side brings him on in the middle of an over, he cannot bowl the remaining balls of that over.
- He may bowl a full quota of four overs no matter when he enters, and can bat in any position, as long as no more than eleven players bat.
- The player he replaces is out of the match for good and cannot field as a substitute.
- If the starting XI has four overseas players, the Impact Player must be Indian. If it has three or fewer, he may be an overseas player, so a team can never field more than four overseas players at once.
- Using the substitute is optional. A team can finish the match with its original XI.
When It Was Introduced and What Problem It Solved
The board announced the rule in December 2022, shortly before the IPL auction, describing it as a way to add ‘a tactical, strategic dimension to the game’, borrowing the idea of tactical substitutions from football, rugby and basketball. It was first tried in the 2022-23 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India’s domestic T20 competition, before being used in the IPL from the opening match of the 2023 season.
The problem it addressed was balance. A traditional T20 XI must decide before the toss how many batters and bowlers to pick, and the toss and the conditions often make that choice look wrong by the second innings. The rule lets a team pick for the conditions in each innings: a sixth bowler when defending, an extra batter when chasing. It also created more playing time for Indian players, because in most matches the substitute has to be Indian. At the same time as the rule arrived, the league also allowed captains to name their XI after the toss, so teams could choose substitutes knowing whether they would bat or bowl first.
How It Works, Step by Step
- 1. The toss. Captains toss, then each hands in an XI and five substitutes.
- 2. First innings. The side batting first usually keeps an extra bowler on the bench as one of its substitutes.
- 3. The switch. At the end of its innings, or when a batter it no longer needs has been dismissed, the batting side brings in a bowler as the Impact Player and takes out a batter.
- 4. Second innings. The chasing side does the opposite: it bowls with its full attack, then replaces a bowler with an extra batter for the chase.
- 5. The end. The replaced players cannot return. Each side ends with eleven players who took part, plus the one who left.
The most common pattern since 2023 has been exactly this swap: a team bats with one specialist batter and bowls with one specialist bowler who never bat or bowl respectively. That is why so many IPL scorecards since 2023 show a batter who did not field, or a bowler who did not bat.
A Worked Example From a Real Match
The first Impact Player substitution in IPL history came in the opening match of 2023, Gujarat Titans against Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on 31 March 2023. Both teams used the rule, in the two different ways that would become standard.
| Step | Chennai Super Kings | Gujarat Titans |
|---|---|---|
| Innings | Batted first: 178/7 | Chased: 182/5 in 19.2 overs |
| Player taken out | Ambati Rayudu (batter), after scoring 12 off 12 | Kane Williamson (batter), injured while fielding |
| Impact Player brought in | Tushar Deshpande (fast bowler) | Sai Sudharsan (batter) |
| What he did | Bowled 3.2 overs, 1/51 | Scored 22 off 17 at number three |
| Result | Lost by 5 wickets | Won by 5 wickets |
Chennai used the rule as an attacking side batting first would: once Rayudu had finished batting, he was swapped for an extra seamer, giving Chennai six bowlers to defend 178. Deshpande became the first Impact Player in IPL history. Gujarat used it as a replacement: Williamson hurt his knee trying to take a catch on the boundary in the first innings, and Sai Sudharsan came in to bat in his place. Gujarat won with four balls to spare, Shubman Gill top-scoring with 63.
The example also shows the limits of the rule. Deshpande’s extra overs cost 51 runs; having an additional bowler does not guarantee better bowling, it just gives the captain more choices.
How It Changed Team Tactics
The clearest effect is on scoring. The table compares the three seasons before the rule (2020-2022) with the four seasons since (2023-2026), using every match that was not shortened by rain:
| Measure | 2020-2022 | 2023-2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Matches | 194 | 285 |
| Average first-innings total | 167.0 | 189.7 |
| Run rate (both innings) | 8.31 | 9.52 |
| Sixes per match | 12.8 | 17.6 |
| Totals of 200 or more | 40 | 192 |
| 200+ totals per match | 0.21 | 0.67 |
| Innings ending all out | 8.0% | 11.4% |
| Bowlers used per innings | 5.79 | 5.98 |
| Chasing side win % | 53.6% | 52.5% |
| Targets of 201+ successfully chased | 4 of 28 | 37 of 119 |
Average first-innings totals have risen by about 23 runs, and 200-plus totals have gone from roughly one match in five to 0.7 per match. Sixes per match are up by more than a third. The extra batter means that the number eight or nine in most line-ups is now a genuine hitter, so batters at the top can take risks from the first ball without worrying about exposing the tail. That is also why more innings end all out: teams accept a higher chance of collapse in exchange for speed.
Chasing has changed too. Before 2023, a target above 200 was usually decisive: chasing sides won only 4 of 28 such games in 2020-2022. Since 2023 they have won 37 of 119. With an extra batter in hand, no total feels completely safe.
Where the extra runs come from
| Phase | 2020-2022 runs/over | 2023-2026 runs/over | 2020-2022 balls per dismissal | 2023-2026 balls per dismissal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Powerplay (overs 1-6) | 7.30 | 8.94 | 26.5 | 23.7 |
| Middle (7-15) | 7.46 | 8.51 | 23.0 | 21.6 |
| Death (16-20) | 9.45 | 10.14 | 12.1 | 12.2 |
Runs per over here count runs off the bat only, so extras are left out. The rise is spread across the whole innings, and the biggest change is in the powerplay and middle overs, where batters used to bat more carefully to protect the lower order. Wickets also fall more often in some phases, because batters are taking more risks, but the extra depth means a side can afford to lose them. The rule changes the risk calculation for every batter in the top seven, not just the substitute.
Season by season
| Season | Avg 1st-innings total | Run rate | 200+ totals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 172.1 | 8.58 | 15 |
| 2019 | 166.7 | 8.41 | 11 |
| 2020 | 169.5 | 8.29 | 13 |
| 2021 | 159.3 | 8.05 | 9 |
| 2022 | 171.1 | 8.54 | 18 |
| 2023 | 183.0 | 8.98 | 37 |
| 2024 | 189.6 | 9.56 | 41 |
| 2025 | 191.0 | 9.67 | 52 |
| 2026 | 195.1 | 9.87 | 65 |
The jump in 2023 was large, and scoring has kept rising every season since, reaching an average first-innings total near 200 in 2026. Some of that is down to other changes, such as flatter pitches, smaller boundaries at some grounds and a generation of young batters who have grown up playing T20, but the timing of the jump points to the rule as the biggest single cause.
Other tactical effects: specialist batters such as openers rarely field any more in some sides, and fewer all-rounders are picked as the ‘balance’ player, because a team no longer needs one player who can do both jobs. Captains also have a sixth or seventh bowling option more often, although the data shows the number of bowlers actually used per innings has risen only slightly. Team selection after the toss has become standard: teams adjust their XI and substitutes to whether they bat or bowl first.
Controversies and Criticism
The rule has been criticised by some of the league’s biggest names. Rohit Sharma said in 2024 that he was not a fan of it because it holds back the development of all-rounders, who now get fewer chances to bowl, and Virat Kohli also said it upset the balance between bat and ball. Many bowlers and former players have pointed to the scoring figures above as evidence that the game has tilted too far towards batters.
Supporters reply that the rule gives more Indian players time on the field, makes the toss less decisive, and has produced closer, higher-scoring games that fans enjoy. When the player regulations for 2025-2027 were announced in September 2024, the league confirmed that the rule would continue for all three seasons.
How the IPL Version Differs From Other T20 Leagues
Substitutes are not part of the Laws of Cricket for international matches. The ICC tried a ‘Super Sub’ rule in one-day internationals in 2005, where teams named a substitute before the toss, but abandoned it within a year because it favoured the side that won the toss. Australia’s Big Bash League introduced an ‘X-Factor’ substitute in 2020-21, which allowed a change only at the 10-over mark of the first innings, and later dropped it.
The IPL version is more flexible than either: the substitute can come on at almost any break in play, is chosen after the toss, can bat or bowl a full quota, and is limited mainly by the overseas rule. That flexibility is why it has had a much bigger effect on the game than earlier experiments.
For the records that have fallen since 2023, see fastest century in IPL history and most sixes in IPL history.
Related reading: most wickets in IPL history, IPL Orange Cap winners and IPL rules explained.
Related guides: IPL rules explained, the IPL playoff format, IPL player comparisons.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Impact Player rule in the IPL?
It allows each team to replace one member of its starting XI with one of five named substitutes during a match. The Impact Player can bat and bowl a full four overs; the replaced player takes no further part.
When was this rule introduced?
It was first used in the IPL in the 2023 season, after a trial in India’s domestic Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2022-23. It has been retained for 2025 to 2027.
Does this rule apply in other leagues?
Not in this form. International cricket does not allow tactical substitutes; the ICC’s ‘Super Sub’ trial in 2005 was dropped, and the Big Bash League’s ‘X-Factor’ substitute, used from 2020-21, was more limited and later scrapped.