IPL 2025 | 'All-rounders will lose out due to Impact Player rule': GT’s Phillips

"The bowlers need to be able to have something going for them if there’s an extra batter going around. So I think that’s what the IPL has done really well,” he added

The Impact Player rule in the IPL is working at the moment, but it could pose issues for the development of all-rounders at some stage, reckons New Zealand and Gujarat Titans all-rounder Glenn Phillips.

The rule has divided opinions, but the BCCI has extended it to at least the 2027 edition. It essentially gives teams the license to go hard from ball one 
with the cushion of an extra batter in the form of an Impact Player. 

Similarly, teams can also bring in a specialist bowler instead of an all-rounder. “I’m neither here nor there for it. It definitely allows a line-up to do different things. But I do feel like there could be an issue at some stage with all-rounders losing out and not being so prevalent, which then obviously has an impact on the international game, international T20s, international one days,” the Blackcaps cricketer said.

“So for now, it’s a great entertaining brand of cricket. But I think what the IPL has done really well is changed the rules to what the environment is going through,” said Phillips, arguably the best fielder in the modern game.

Last season, Rohit Sharma said he was not a fan of the impact player as it hinders the growth of Indian all-rounders. Ahead of the 2025 edition, Hardik Pandya said it is difficult to draft a developing all-rounder in the starting XI unless one is a pure all-rounder like him.

Phillips also backed the lifting of the saliva ban ahead of the IPL 2025. “You know, we’ve brought saliva back this year, which obviously will potentially enhance reverse swing as well. The bowlers need to be able to have something going for them if there’s an extra batter going around. “So I think that’s what the IPL has done really well,” he added.

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