Courtesy: BCCI/IPL
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has scrapped the Impact Player rule from the upcoming edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT), the domestic T20 tournament in India. This decision from the BCCI came despite the fact that the Impact Player rule will continue to be a part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) during its upcoming season next year.
It is understood that the BCCI communicated with the state associations in India about their decision to scrap the Impact Player rule on Monday evening, October 14, as per the report from Cricbuzz. The short communication from BCCI to the state associations read, “Kindly note that the BCCI has decided to do away with the provision of 'Impact Player' for the ongoing season.”
SMAT 2024 will be played from November 23 to December 15
Notably, the SMAT is set to begin on November 23, while its final is slated to be played on December 15, with Punjab set to defend their title after winning it for the first-time last year at the expense of Baroda in the final. As far as the Impact Player rule in the SMAT is concerned, it was brought in as an experiment a couple of seasons ago before being used in the IPL currently.
The decision from the BCCI to scrap the Impact Player rule in the SMAT came after the captains and coaches of many state teams remarked that it isn’t in the best interest of the competition. The premise of the Impact Player rule had led to the all-rounders becoming somewhat redundant in the domestic T20 tournament with the teams preferring to play specialist batters and bowlers ahead of them.
Moreover, at the same time, the BCCI has continued with the two-bouncer rule in the SMAT, which was brought in last season despite the fact that in T20I cricket, there is only one bouncer permitted by the ICC.
