MS Dhoni's Honest Take On Impact Player Rule: 'Masala Daalne Ki Zaroorat Nahi Hai'
MS Dhoni believes the IPL doesn't need the Impact Player rule to spice up the tournament. He mentioned that IPL is already competitive and high-scoring.
India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) legend MS Dhoni believes that the IPL doesn’t need the Impact Player rule to add masala (or spice up) an already competitive and popular tournament.
Dhoni was speaking in an interview with JioHotstar, a clip of which was released on Monday. He also subtly replied to accusations that the rule helps him keep his place in the CSK set-up, saying that it ‘does and doesn’t’ favor him, because he still has to keep wickets and be involved with the overall proceedings of the team.
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“When it first came out, I said one thing that IPL is in such a good position, aur koi masala daalne ki zaroorat nahi hai (there’s no need to spice it up further)," Dhoni said in the interview. “Games were already quite high-scoring, they were going well, the matches were quite competitive. We have seen it often in this format that matches end in five overs — you lose too many wickets, fail to make proper runs and the opposition wins easily."
“If you lose a few wickets early, more often than not you are out of the game. So, when this rule came, I felt it was not really needed at this point of time because TRP is up, the quality of cricket is good, good players were coming up but it was implemented. In a way, it helps me but it still doesn’t help me because I still do my keeping so I am not an impact player, I have to be involved in the game," he added.
Dhoni, 43, is playing his 18th season for CSK in IPL 2025. The franchise started the campaign with a four-wicket win over Mumbai Indians on Sunday. Dhoni helped CSK earn the important wicket of Suryakumar Yadav with a stunningly quick stumping. He also got two balls to bat in the second innings but remained not out at zero.
In the interview, Dhoni also spoke about his changing batting style from someone who liked taking the game deep to teeing off from the first ball. He attributed it to the better pitches in India and improvement in batting techniques which has made matches even more high-scoring.
“You have to adapt according to requirements. The way cricket is played nowadays, it’s quite different. The way we were playing in 2008 and the way we played the last year’s IPL — it’s very different. We also have to acknowledge that wickets used to have a bit of turn and a bit of two-pacedness early on, now India’s wickets have gotten much better," Dhoni said.
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