Former Indian women’s cricket captain Mithali Raj has expressed her views on the impact of the new Impact Rule in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). The rule allows teams to substitute a player of their choice at any point during the match.
Raj believes that the rule has been particularly beneficial for teams in the second innings. “It does support a team which swaps a bowler in the second innings,” she said. This is because teams can bring in a fresh bowler to exploit the conditions and put pressure on the opposition batters.
Raj also commented on the performance of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), who have struggled in the tournament so far. She identified the team’s bowling as a major weakness. “Batting strength is good but even there except for Virat Kohli and the finisher Dinesh Karthik no one else is supporting Kohli,” she said.
Raj believes that RCB needs to improve its bowling resources. “I don’t see any bowler whom you can say would win the match with one spell for RCB in this IPL,” she said. She suggested that the team should consider shuffling its existing bowlers or acquiring quality spinners in the later stages of the tournament.
Raj also praised the performance of 22-year-old Riyan Parag for Rajasthan Royals. “He has not done that great in the last few seasons and to overcome that and perform like the way he is doing now is amazing,” she said.
Regarding the upcoming T20 World Cup, Raj believes that Virat Kohli should be included in the team due to his class, experience, and consistency. She also suggested that Yuzvendra Chahal should be considered for selection based on his current form.
