India, March 26 -- Introduced to the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the 2023 season, the Impact Player rule is here to stay, at least for now. With the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) yet to conduct a formal review of the much-criticised tweak, the question remains: why can't it simply be scrapped immediately?

In simple terms, the Impact Player rule allows teams to make a tactical substitution during a match, although it differs significantly from football-style changes.

Before the match begins, each team names a playing XI along with five substitutes. During the game, the captain can bring in one of these substitutes as an Impact Player to replace any player from the starting XI. This substitution can only take place at sp...