I see Impact Sub rule as great opportunity for young players: Prabhsimran Singh

Punjab Kings power-hitter Prabhsimran Singh fully backs the ‘Impact Sub’ rule, praising it for giving young players a valuable lifeline and a golden opportunity to shine in the IPL.

The youngster also revealed that he consciously tries to model his wicket-keeping style after Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The ‘Impact Sub’ rule has faced criticism from several cricket experts for disproportionately favouring batters, undermining the role of all-rounders, and contributing to inflated scores.

But Prabhsimran sees things differently. “As a youngster, I see the Impact Sub rule as a great opportunity for young players, and I have said this several times.

Many don’t like it because, obviously, a team can take more high-risk decisions when a player — be it a batter or bowler — is added to the side,” said Prabhsimran in a media interaction.

“But for young players, it’s invaluable. When I joined the (PBKS) franchise, I spent eight years with them, and for four of those years, I didn’t get many chances to play.

Sitting on the sidelines, I always hoped for a shot, and now, because of the Impact Sub rule, I feel the opportunities for youngsters have increased significantly,” the young top-order batter, who scored 500-plus runs last IPL season, added.

With India blessed with a wealth of top-order wicketkeeper-batters, including KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan, one might wonder if Prabhsimran tries to emulate them or stick to his own style, and the cricketer clarifies that he consciously makes an effort only to model his game after former India skipper Dhoni.

“You cannot say I try to copy anyone... they are all my seniors, and each has their own style of play, while I have mine. Now that I am keeping as well, I have watched Mahi bhai’s keeping — his hands are so fast.

“I don’t try to copy anyone in batting, but when it comes to keeping, I consciously make an effort to be like Mahi bhai.”

Prabhsimran, who has been with the Punjab franchise for eight years, has in the past couple of seasons established himself as their go-to opener for a blazing start and says the powerplay is now the phase where teams unleash their attacking intent to drive toward a 200-plus score, a feat that is increasingly becoming the norm.

“The game has become so fast that earlier, scores of 170-180 were defendable, and even today that can happen, but when you look at the numbers, 200-plus scores are increasingly becoming the norm.

To reach 200-plus, I feel the powerplay has to be approached with an attacking mindset.