Former India captain Sachin Tendulkar has called for sweeping changes to T20 cricket, arguing that the format has drifted too far in favour of batters. With the ongoing IPL 2026 seeing an unprecedented wave of scores of 200-plus, Tendulkar believes the balance between bat and ball must be restored, and he has specifically urged that the Impact Player rule be removed.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the ESPNcricinfo Awards in Mumbai, Tendulkar said the Impact Player mechanism should be scrapped. His view was that adding an extra batter to the playing group further widens the gap at a time when bowling is already under heavy pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel there are a few things which, on a personal note, I can say. I think the Impact Player rule needs to go away. In a T20 format, you are already playing just 20 overs, and then you are adding one more batter to the line-up. When bowlers are already being challenged, I find that imbalance,\u201d Tendulkar said.<\/p>\n
Tendulkar also put forward an idea to restructure the powerplay into two distinct segments\u2014one governed by the batting side and another controlled by the bowling captain. He suggested keeping the standard fielding restrictions early on, then allowing the fielding team to decide when to take advantage of the later phase.<\/p>\n
To further improve competitive balance, Tendulkar proposed a change to bowling quotas as well. He argued that allowing a bowler to bowl five overs would reward the side\u2019s leading bowler and create more meaningful contest between bat and ball.<\/p>\n
At present, bowlers can deliver a maximum of four overs in T20 cricket, but Tendulkar believes the top performer in each team should be given the opportunity for an additional over.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne bowler should be allowed to bowl five overs. Because invariably the best bowler of the side is going to bowl that fifth over. Wouldn\u2019t you want to see that best bowler bowl more? The top batters are batting sometimes even 20 overs. Why shouldn\u2019t the best bowler be bowling five overs?\u201d Tendulkar concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former India captain Sachin Tendulkar has called for sweeping changes to T20 cricket, arguing that the format has drifted too far in favour of batters.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"IPL 2026: Sachin Urges Impact Player Removal Overhaul","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Sachin Tendulkar urges an IPL 2026 overhaul, calling for Impact Player removal to restore bat-ball balance as 200-plus scores flood T20 cricket.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"yoast_head":"\n