"Impact Player rule has affected bowlers more than all-rounders:" Shahbaz Ahmed

The 'Impact Player' rule has created lots of controversies among fans this season. Sunrisers Hyderabad's left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed shared his thoughts on the Impact Player rule. Shahbaz has played 12 games this season, scoring 186 runs at a strike rate of 138 plus but has only picked up three wickets at an abysmal economy. The Bengal all-rounder has had enough opportunities this season under Pat Cummins but hasn't been that good.

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Shahbaz Ahmed on the Impact Player rule

"Now every team has 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.

Shahbaz said the teams haven't understood how to use an 'Impact Player' since last season. "The teams didn't know much about how to use it 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, have also gone down significantly."

Shahbaz also praised Pat Cummins's captaincy. SRH have already qualified for the Indian Premier League 2024 playoffs with 15 points under Cummins' leadership. "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 said.

"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 is what helped us to perform well," he added.

Shahbaz also explained about the quality of Virat Kohli's bat. Shahbaz gets one of Virat's bats every season. "Virat's bat is by far the best in terms of quality. His bat has the right balance and the ping is fabulous. In every IPL season, he has gifted me a willow. His bat holds high value for me," Ahmed said.