Cricket is a game of 11 players, would be nice to stick to that: David Miller | Cricket News - Times of India

Source: The Times of India
Author: Hindol Basu

NEW DELHI: South Africa's hard-hitting batsman David Miller is the latest to join the group criticizing the IPL's 'impact player' rule.

After India captain Rohit Sharma denounced the rule, saying that it takes allrounders out of the game, Miller also came down heavily on the rule.

"I am not a massive fan of the rule. The game of cricket has 11 players and it would be nice to stick to that.Rohit said that international cricket is not like that (played with an impact player) and I feel it's better to keep it the same.

"It's creating six bowlers and eight batters, and taking the allrounders out of contention," Miller said to a query posed by TOI on Tuesday.

"The IPL is trying it out, but I feel the Indian players are not growing with the rule in place. While it is important to ensure the game evolves and innovation is there for the excitement of the sport, the core should remain the same."

The 'Impact Player' rule has allowed top-order batters to attack from the word go, as they know another extra bats man will come as a backup even if they falter. That "freedom" has resulted in some huge scores being piled up by teams, with Sunrisers Hyderabad scoring in excess of 260 on three occasions.

But Miller feels this won't be the case in the upcoming T20 World Cup since the pitches in the Caribbean are likely to be on the "slower" side.

"It would be hard to say whether the T20 World Cup will produce high-scoring games like we are seeing in the IPL because the conditions will be very different.

"The pitches in the Caribbean might be on the slower side compared to Indian wickets. There (during the World Cup) it will be all about assessing the conditions on the day and playing accordingly," Miller said.

Hindol Basu is a Principal Correspondent with the The Times of India. Over the years, as a sports journalist, Hindol has covered important events like the 2012 London Olympics, 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Hindol has had a diverse profile having worked in all forms of media - TV, Radio, New Media and Print. Besides, being an avid blogger, Hindol plays the guitar, writes poetry and is interested in photography.