Sachin Tendulkar would like the Indian Premier League to swing slightly back towards the bowlers. Speaking on the eve of the 2026 final in Ahmedabad, he outlined three straightforward adjustments he believes could help.
“I feel there are a few things which, on a personal note that I can say, I think the impact player needs to go away,” he said. “I feel when in a T20 format you just have to play 20 overs, and then you are adding one more batter to that line-up. Where bowlers are already being challenged, I find that imbalance.”
The Impact Player – introduced in 2023 – lets sides replace one member of the XI with a named substitute at any stage of the match. Coaches like the flexibility; batters love the licence. Scoring rates have risen each season since the rule appeared, and totals that once looked imposing are now merely par.
Tendulkar’s stance is hardly knee-jerk. He has raised the point in private circles for more than a year. The former India captain is not calling for a bowler-dominated tournament, simply a contest that feels fairer. “Those extra runs may be fun for fans,” one IPL assistant coach noted privately this week, “but the matches are starting to look the same. You shouldn’t need 230 every night.”
The 51-year-old then floated two further tweaks. The first involves a split powerplay. Again, he kept it simple: “Let the first four overs be batters’ powerplay with the same field restrictions, and post that, the remaining two powerplay overs should be determined by the fielding captain as and when he wants to take. Those two consecutive overs will also get one fielder extra outside the ring at any stage of the game.”
Under current regulations, only two boundary riders are allowed for all six powerplay overs. Tendulkar’s proposal would leave the early four untouched – keeping the fireworks – but offer skippers a tactical lever later in the innings. It is, he argues, a small concession that could drag the contest back into genuine ebb and flow.
Finally, he would permit one bowler to deliver a fifth over. “One bowler should be allowed to bowl five overs. Because invariably the best bowler of the side is going to bowl that fifth over. Wouldn’t you want to see that best bowler bowl more? The top batters are batting sometimes even 20 overs. Why shouldn’t the best bowler be bowling five overs?”
The idea echoes suggestions voiced by several current professionals, especially those who operate primarily at the death. A leading quick, granted anonymity, told this writer in February: “Give me one more over and I back myself to change a game. Right now you’re often stuck hiding behind part-timers.”
Data from the last two IPL seasons shows most teams use at least seven bowlers a match, hunting match-ups rather than trusting a spearhead to finish the job. Allowing a genuine pace leader or frontline spinner that extra over could tighten things without turning the clock back to 120-plays-120.
As ever, rule changes sit with the IPL governing council and, ultimately, the BCCI. Discarding the Impact Player would be the most dramatic move; it is also the least likely in the short term given how franchises have embraced it. Yet the debate has made it onto official agendas, and Tendulkar’s voice still carries weight.
The tournament’s administrators often talk up innovation. Tendulkar’s message is that innovation need not mean ever-bigger bats or shorter boundaries. Sometimes it can simply be a tweak that keeps both arts – run-making and run-saving – alive and well.
