“In the IPL, people think Impact Player rule is sort of taking something away from the all-rounders, but they still play a huge part” – Jos Buttler

England’s white-ball captain Jos Buttler feels the all-rounders play a huge role in the Indian Premier League despite the introduction of the Impact Player rule. The Impact player rule was introduced in IPL 2023 after being trialed in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament.

The Impact Player rule in the IPL allows teams to name five substitute players in addition to their playing XI before a match. After the match starts, captains of both teams can nominate any one of these five substitutes to replace one of the players in the starting XI during any of the natural breaks of the match.

Ergo, the team batting first, mostly uses an extra bowler in the second innings whereas the team fielding first, uses an extra batter in the second innings.

“I know in the IPL, people think the Impact Player rule is sort of taking something away from the all-rounders, but they still play a huge part. They’re crucial to balancing the side. Even before the Impact Player rule came in, there were a lot of cricketers wanting to be involved, wanting to impact the game with both bat and ball,” Buttler said in an interview with Times of India.

“All-rounders traditionally have been crucial for cricket teams, to lengthen the batting lineup, provide balance and different bowling options. All-rounders are not a luxury but a necessity. Having multi-skilled players is a huge benefit.”

Meanwhile, Brendon McCullum has been appointed as England’s all-format coach after white-ball coach Matthew Mott resigned after the T20 World Cup. Buttler said there are pros and cons to spilt-coaching and a single all-format head coach approach.

“There are pluses and minuses to both. Having that one guy across formats can have that consistent messaging, of course. At the time Brendon took over as Test coach along with Matthew Mott (former white-ball coach), the schedule for English cricket was incredibly busy. It looked impossible for one man to do it all. We had to balance that out,” Buttler said in the same interview.

“Now it’s obviously gone back to having that single head coach, but you’ll still have to be smart with schedules. There might be times when ‘Baz’ needs to step out for a series and one of the assistant coaches can take charge.”

Buttler reckons the captain’s role is also crucial to the team’s success.

“There’s more data but making those calls on the field is still crucial. It’s such a short game, every ball is important, saving one run or two runs here and there can go a long way to winning a game. Making those calls as captain is vital. There’s just more information for the captain if you need it.”

Buttler is currently recovering from a calf injury and in his absence Harry Brook will lead in the five-match ODI series against Australia.