IPL 2023 Impact Substitutes

Which players could be useful in this role?

Impact Player Rule adds fascinating dynamic

Ahead of the 2023 IPL, I’m more fascinated how the Impact Player rule will play out compared to anything else in the competition. We’ve seen before (mainly in the Big Bash, but also the recent SA20) that teams have struggled to quickly get their heads around things like bespoke rule changes and bonus points, so there should be some nice competitive advantage for IPL teams who do their due diligence ahead of the tournament.

Initial mistakes?

I’d expect teams to make quite a lot of mistakes early in the implementation of the Impact Player, and I wouldn’t even be shocked if some teams decided not to use them early in the competition - this would be a huge mistake given the extra utility that the Impact Player will have in the IPL compared to the obsolete Bench Boost in the Big Bash.

This is why teams need to consider recruiting T20 strategists who can run through the various scenarios for this (and obviously other areas) in detail. Such a recruitment could mean the difference between qualification and not qualifying, and from an expected points per game perspective, would likely represent great value for money.

I’ve already written about the Impact Player rule as a concept with some potential impacts, uses, niche areas where it could really make a difference, and the likely dynamics at play in future auctions and you can check that out here. However, for this piece I want to take a look further at individual team deployment of Impact Players, and some players who might be adept to fit into potential roles as Impact Players.

Domestic players likely to fill the role

First of all to remind readers, a team can only use an overseas player as an impact sub if they start without the maximum 4 overseas players (which, as a general rule, is almost always a bad decision and an indictment of poor recruitment and/or selection) so I would anticipate that the overwhelming majority, if not 100%, of Impact Players will be domestic. For the purposes of this article anyway, that’s what I will assume moving forward - this article also highlights several teams where Impact Players as bench options are severely lacking, increasing the importance further that IPL teams recruit well.

General Impact Player Roles

Ahead of the season, I’ve settled on four general roles for Impact Players, which are the following. Yes, there will be some niche areas which will be used on occasion, but I’d be surprised if these four roles weren’t used more regularly than most others.

• Spare batter to increase batting depth in case early wickets are lost (ideally a competent spin-hitter)

• High intent batter/finisher (given the role, will be better if a strong pace-hitter)

• Bowling phase specialist pacer. I can see Powerplay specialists traded in/out more regularly - they often do the bulk or all of their work in the first 10 overs - but also death specialists could come to the fore.

• Sub spinner. This is extremely useful if teams bowl second, giving them the opportunity to assess conditions first. Also, if the opposition throws a curve ball with their selection by picking a right-hand or left-hand heavy team, having a strong spin match-up option on the bench would obviously be extremely useful.

I also wouldn't be surprised if one difference of opinion between the above and how teams execute their plans is the presence of a gun fielder as one of their bench options. I can see the logic behind this but the expected runs added for a fielding option compared to a player expected to add value with bat and ball is likely to be lower. It might be that it takes a while for teams to work this one out - my view is teams and coaches often overvalue the impact of fielding.

Chennai Super Kings

Potential XI: Gaikwad, Conway, Rayudu, Ali, Stokes, Dube, Jadeja, Dhoni, Chahar, Theekshana, Choudhury

Spare Batter: With Ambati Rayudu likely to make the starting XI, I’d expect this to be Ajinkya Rahane.

High Intent Batter: I’m not sure one exists who is likely to be a bench option. Both Senapati and Shaik Rasheed look pretty strike rate constrained from the data I have on them. Perhaps they might consider Nishant Sindhu given that he appears to be a competent six-hitter and also considering the extra bowling option he provides with his left-arm orthodox spin as well.

Phase Pacer: Both Mukesh Choudhary and Deepak Chahar have a strong bias to bowling in the Powerplay, so one option if CSK bowl first could be to sub them off after their overs and restructure the starting XI balance accordingly, with an extra batter making sense.

Choudhary went for almost 14 economy at the death last season so looks to have limited utility in the second half of opposition innings, and CSK don’t really possess a domestic death specialist with the ball. In fact, their death bowling looks to be lacking given their squad, full stop. Considering the above, it’s tough to find a phase pacer likely to start as a substitute from their current squad.

Sub Spinner: CSK only have one leg spinner in their squad, Prashant Solanki. I’d expect him to have more of an impact at home given the usual spin-friendly conditions in Chepauk, but even in away matches looks like a really viable bench option at least. With Moeen Ali able to contribute off-spin match-up overs already and Maheesh Theekshana already in the team, there really isn’t much need for a sub off-spinner such as Bhagath Varma.

Delhi Capitals

Potential XI: Warner, Shaw, Salt, Pandey, Sarfaraz Khan, Marsh, Axar Patel, Nortje, Sakariya, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav.

Spare Batter: Yash Dhull - looks very capable of adding stability even at a young age. Not really a six-hitter but I think he could easily turn out to be a 30/130 type player at this level soon enough.

High Intent Batter: Ripal Patel - over 20% boundaries in his T20 career with an almost even split of 6s and 4s.

Phase Pacer: DC’s domestic options struggled at the death last season and there’s not a great deal of scope to sub in a death bowling specialist later on for opposition innings. Perhaps Ishant Sharma, who still has done well in the Powerplay in recent years, could be an option in some way shape or form - maybe starting him and then subbing him off for one of the pacers in the above XI after the Powerplay?

Sub Spinner: Delhi have used Lalit Yadav against LHB heavy teams in recent years and I’d expect this trend to continue, whether it’s as an Impact Player or as a starting XI player. If they want a back-up orthodox leg spinner, which they do lack in their squad, then Praveen Dubey could be an option while former India Under-19 left-arm orthodox Vicky Ostwal is another who can turn the ball away from the right-hander - he had an excellent start to his pro T20 career for Maharashtra in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy several months ago.

Gujarat Titans

Potential XI: Gill, Wade, Williamson, Shankar, Manohar, Hardik Pandya, Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Sai Kishore, Shami, Little.

Spare Batter: KS Bharat - the India Test wicket-keeper was sparingly used last year but could well benefit from added game time this year as an Impact Player when required.

High Intent Batter: Not an abundance of options. Manohar could fit this role but is likely to start, while Sai Sudharsan hasn’t shown any evidence of being an above-average hitter. He also has a very low six-hitting percentage. It could come down to asking 38-year-old Wriddhiman Saha to contribute where he can in this role, although the untested Urvil Patel looks to be a capable hitter as well, albeit one with a four-hitting lean.

Phase Pacer: I’d expect Yash Dayal and Shivam Mavi to feature in this area, which shows the decent depth that Gujarat have in their domestic pace bowling stocks. One of these may also rotate with left-arm spinner Sai Kishore in the starting XI depending on conditions.

Sub Spinner: Assuming that Sai Kishore gets decent game-time, sub spinner can only really be off-spin all-rounder Jayant Yadav, who offers something with the bat as well. However, he’s only likely to be particularly effective with the ball against LHB-heavy opposition batting line-ups.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Potential XI: Gurbaz, V Iyer, S Iyer, Rana, Shakib, Russell, Narine, Thakur, Varun, U Yadav, Arora.

One of the more difficult starting XIs to predict. Some nice bowling options in the top 6 but a lack of proven domestic bowlers (both pace and spin) could be a big issue for KKR. There’s an argument where Jagadeesan comes in for Gurbaz or Shakib, allowing Lockie Ferguson to play as the fourth overseas, but the top five would look pretty one-dimensional if that was the case. Rather like their ILT20 squad, there looks to be a balance and bench strength issue which will require a lot of thought to solve.

Spare Batter: There will be a temptation to use Anukul Roy in some way given his fielding ability. Mandeep Singh is another option.

High Intent Batter: I’d expect Roy or Rinku Singh to feature in this area. Rinku has a nice 6/4 ratio and reasonable enough boundary percentage, so should be able to upskill to cover this role.

Phase Pacer: Vaibhav Arora showed Powerplay ability at points last year for PBKS but was surprisingly released. He could start and get subbed off to change the balance of the XI. As mentioned, a lack of proven domestic bowling options is a constraint here.

Sub Spinner: Again, the lack of domestic bench options could rear its head. They only really have 19-year-old Suyash Sharma as a viable sub spinner, unless they trust Roy’s left-arm orthodox spin which could be exposed at this level.

Lucknow Super Giants

Potential XI: KL Rahul, de Kock, Hooda, Pooran, Stoinis, K Pandya, Mankad, Avesh, Bishnoi, Wood, Mohsin Khan.

Spare Batter: Manan Vohra or Ayush Badoni.

High Intent Batter: The same options - I’d expect Badoni to have slightly higher upside in this role. K Gowtham, who also offers an off-spin option, could be a good fit here too.

Phase Pacer: Mohsin Khan had superb Powerplay numbers in 2022 and could well be a candidate to bowl out early and then be replaced by a death bowler or a batter. Avesh Khan is the only really noted death bowler in the above team. The other option would be to use Jaydev Unadkat as a bench option.

Sub Spinner: Could this be the perfect role for 40-year-old leg spinner Amit Mishra? Alternatively, the left-arm orthodox of Swapnil Singh could be utilised, or against LHB heavy teams, the off-spin of Karan Sharma (who is also a competent batter as well).

Mumbai Indians

Potential XI: Rohit, Kishan, Varma, SKY, David, Stubbs, Green, Mulani, Archer, Kartikeya, Madhwal.

Another starting XI which is tough to predict. Bumrah being injured is obviously a huge blow for MI. However, they spent almost 50 Cr between Rohit, Kishan and Green, which is very difficult to justify from a value for money perspective - leading them to sign a lot of 20 lakh squad players who are somewhat untried at a high level. Unless they structure up differently with fewer overseas in those 5-7 roles, their bowling looks well short of this level.

A lack of bench strength and squad balance makes it very difficult to predict their likely Impact Players, or whether any will even be able to make an impact. Piyush Chawla is likely to feature as a leg-spin option, while the off-spin of Hrithik Shokeen might be useful against LHB heavy opposition.

Punjab Kings

Potential XI: S Dhawan, Prabsimran Singh, Bairstow, Livingstone, Jitesh, Shahrukh Khan, Sam Curran, Rabada, R Chahar, Baltej, Arshdeep.

Spare Batter: Atharva Taide has a lot of talent and future upside, and provides a useful left-hand option as well. Harpreet Singh Bhatia is rather anchor-oriented which might be useful as a collapse-avoider.

High Intent Batter: Rather disappointingly given the squad assembled last year in the mega auction, PBKS subsequent domestic batting recruitment doesn’t appear to have unearthed any intent merchants. As said, Bhatia is an anchor and Shivam Singh at 26 hasn’t played any pro white ball cricket.

Phase Pacer: Tough to see any of the starting XI being subbed out as a phase specialist, but it will be interesting to see how PBKS utilise Baltej Singh Dhanda, who has taken a bucketload of wickets in first-class cricket this winter. Could he be the Powerplay specialist that this team arguably needs? Vidwath Kaverappa, who impressed in his debut season for Karnataka in the SMAT recently, is another interesting back-up pace option. Rishi Dhawan is another potential for this role, particularly given some batting ability.

Sub Spinner: It may well be that PBKS start with Baltej and replace him with the left-arm orthodox option of Harpreet Brar, who lengthens the batting slightly as well.

Rajasthan Royals

Potential XI: Buttler, Jaiswal, Padikkal, Samson, Hetmyer, Parag, Holder, Ashwin, Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Chahal.

Spare Batter: Not many domestic options. I would imagine that the inexperienced keeper/batter Dhruv Jurel looks best placed to take this role, although the left-handed Kunal Singh Rathore could also be utilised.

High Intent Batter: Abdul Basith from Kerala has shown hitting upside from a small sample of List A and T20 data. He’s actually hit more 6s than 4s in both formats so far in his career, so he clearly has power and intent. Also, Akash Vasisht has done well for Himachal Pradesh across formats with the bat, and usefully contributes left-arm spin too.

Phase Pacer: Rajasthan have some nice back-up pace options including Navdeep Saini. However Saini has struggled badly in the Powerplay in recent years in the IPL. KM Asif might be more suited to being a Powerplay specialist, while Kuldeep Sen offers more of an all-phase option.

Sub Spinner: Various options - M Ashwin and KC Cariappa offer leg spin options, while Akash Vasisht can contribute his left-arm orthodox spin and lengths the batting significantly as well.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Potential XI: Du Plessis, Kohli, Patidar, Maxwell, Lomror, Karthik, Shahbaz Ahmed, Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Hazlewood, Siraj.

Spare Batter: Suyash Prabhudessai could be a decent collapse avoider as an Impact Player, averaging in excess of 20 balls per dismissal so far in his career. Given how much they surprisingly paid for him in 2022, RCB will have hopes for the left-handed Anuj Rawat as well here.

High Intent Batter: Not many domestic options here. Karnataka’s Manoj Bhandage could be the best option, and again offers left-hand utility as well - he does bowl too (RA pace) but I’d be surprised if he went well with the ball at this level.

Phase Pacer: Akash Deep was used as a Powerplay option by RCB last year when he featured but didn’t pull up any trees at all when he was used in that phase. It would be logical that Siddarth Kaul is ahead of Deep in the pecking order, given that he is a viable bowler in any phase. Rajan Kumar has had a strong start to his T20 career with Uttarakhand and offers an interesting option with left-arm variety. Sonu Yadav, brother of Sanjay Yadav, also offers an all-round ability as a right-arm pacer.

Sub Spinner: Both sub spinners in this squad are leg spinners, with the veteran Karn Sharma likely to get the nod as an Impact Player over the inexperienced Himanshu Sharma.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Potential XI: Mayank, Tripathi, Abhishek, Markram, Brook, Klaasen, Sundar, Rashid/Hosein, Bhuvneshwar, Natarajan, Umran Malik.

Spare Batter: Anmolpreet Singh has shown high stability in longer formats, and while he hasn’t converted his success to T20 so far, looks to be a collapse-avoider. Back-up keeper Upendra Yadav also has something of an anchor dynamic so far in his career. Left-hand option here comes from Vivrant Sharma, who is 40/87 in List A cricket so far and 24/128 in T20.

High Intent Batter: Is there a player better suited to being an Impact Player than Abdul Samad? The talented Sunrisers man offers extreme intent but has struggled in recent years, with my perception being that he’s often had to bat when the team were under significant pressure. The new Sunrisers regime looks to be a bit more intent-heavy and both Samarth Vyas from Saurashtra and Sanvir Singh from Punjab (wonder why PBKS didn’t go for him) look to offer hitting upside as well.

Phase Pacer: SRH don’t have that many domestic back-up pace options so I’d imagine whoever isn’t picked between T Natarajan and Kartik Tyagi will be used as a potential Impact Player.

Sub Spinner: This is likely to be between the two Mayank’s - Markande and Dagar. After excitingly breaking through at MI a few years back, leg spinner Markande’s career has stalled somewhat and he’ll be looking to make an impression at a new team. He has plenty of time to do so still, being only 25 years of age. Dagar offers a left-arm orthodox option which is likely to be more economical but less of a wicket-taking threat.