---
type: story
title: "The All-Rounder's Dilemma: What the Impact Player Rule Did to Positions 8 and 9"
description: >
  Before 2023, batting at 8 in IPL was the job of your fifth bowler.
  After 2023, it became the slot for the batting specialist your captain
  substituted in. The Impact Player Rule didn't just change scores —
  it redefined which player types are worth picking.
tags:
  - IPL
  - bowling
  - tactics
  - rules
  - all-rounders
  - evolution
status: active
last_verified: 2026-06-28
timestamp: 2026-06-28
license: CC-BY-4.0
source_system: CricketStudio
source_boundary: derived_claims_only
canonical_page: https://okf.cricketstudio.ai/stories/impact-player-bowlers-displaced/
resource: https://okf.cricketstudio.ai/stories/impact-player-bowlers-displaced/
entity_id: cricketstudio:story:impact-player-bowlers-displaced
dataset_version: 2026-06-11
provenance:
  source: >
    Pre-rule baseline and post-rule scoring: CricketStudio aggregation of
    Cricsheet CC BY 3.0 (2008–2022) and CricketStudio IPL dataset (2023–2026),
    version 2026-06-11.
    Rashid Khan career economy (pre-2023): Cricsheet CC BY 3.0 (2017–2022 seasons).
    Rashid IPL 2026: CricketStudio IPL 2026 dataset, version 2026-06-11.
    Chahal career and IPL 2026: CricketStudio dataset + Cricsheet CC BY 3.0.
    Narine IPL 2026: CricketStudio IPL 2026 dataset, version 2026-06-11.
  confidence: high
  notes: >
    Economy increases for Rashid and Chahal are correlated with the post-Impact
    Player Rule era. Multiple factors contribute — this story does not claim the
    rule is the sole cause. The archetype-value argument (specialist beats all-rounder)
    is structural inference, not a direct measurement of selection decisions.
related:
  - ../dossier/what-is-impact-player-rule-ipl.md
  - ../stories/spin-bowling-after-impact-player.md
  - ../stories/impact-player-lineup-revolution.md
  - ../stories/impact-player-captains-dilemma.md
  - ../scorebook/players/rashid-khan.md
  - ../scorebook/players/yuzvendra-chahal.md
  - ../scorebook/players/sunil-narine.md
---

# The All-Rounder's Dilemma: What the Impact Player Rule Did to Positions 8 and 9

## The Question Nobody Asked

For fifteen years, IPL teams faced a structural constraint: carry five genuine bowlers, or give up economy in the final overs. The five-bowler requirement meant positions 8, 9, and 10 were occupied by players whose primary value was taking wickets — not scoring runs. Batting at 8 was quietly understood to be a bowler's job.

The Impact Player Rule removed that constraint. What happened to the players who used to hold that slot?

## What the Data Says

**The pre-rule lineup math:**

In standard T20, 20 overs must be bowled. Each bowler bowls a maximum of 4 overs. That requires a minimum of 5 bowlers. In a batting-first team, positions 8 through 11 typically belong to 3 of those 5 bowlers — players selected for their bowling, who happen to bat lower order.

**What the rule changed:**

The batting sub allows a team to replace their 5th bowler (who has finished their 4 overs) with a specialist batter before their own innings begins. Result: the batter who appears at 8 or 9 is no longer the bowling all-rounder — they are the Impact Player specialist.

**The scoring evidence:**

| Era | Avg first innings | 200+ innings % |
|-----|------------------|---------------|
| Pre-rule (2008–2022) | ~145 runs | 6.99% |
| Post-rule (2023–2026) | ~172 runs | 29.68% |

*(Source: Cricsheet CC BY 3.0 + CricketStudio IPL dataset, version 2026-06-11)*

The 27-run increase in first-innings average comes substantially from deeper, higher-quality batting at positions 7 through 10 — exactly the slots freed up by the batting sub.

**The bowlers most affected — spinners who don't bat:**

The players most exposed by this architectural shift are specialist bowlers with limited batting value — those who used to occupy position 8 or 9 and are now the most logical candidates to be substituted out.

| Bowler | Career economy (Cricsheet CC BY 3.0) | IPL 2026 economy | Change |
|--------|-------------------------------------|-----------------|--------|
| [Rashid Khan](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/rashid-khan) (2017–2022 range) | 5.34–6.74 | 9.08 | +2.00–3.74 |
| [Yuzvendra Chahal](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/yuzvendra-chahal) (career) | 7.96 | 9.39 | +1.43 |
| [Sunil Narine](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/sunil-narine) | ~7.50 (career) | 6.60 | −0.90 |

*(Source: Cricsheet CC BY 3.0 career baselines + CricketStudio IPL 2026 dataset, version 2026-06-11)*

Rashid and [Chahal](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/yuzvendra-chahal) saw significant economy increases in the post-rule era. [Narine](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/sunil-narine) went the other direction.

**Why [Narine](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/sunil-narine) is the counterexample:**

[Narine](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/sunil-narine) opens the batting for KKR and bowls. He contributes meaningfully at both ends of the game. A captain considering a batting sub to replace Narine faces a problem: the replacement batter would need to match Narine's bowling contribution — and no specialist batter can do that.

Narine's dual role makes the Impact Player card less effective against him. He is, structurally, his own Impact Player. His 6.60 IPL 2026 economy is not just better than Rashid and [Chahal](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/yuzvendra-chahal) — it is better than his own career average.

## The Wow

The all-rounder was IPL's most prized archetype for fifteen seasons. A player who could bat at 7 and bowl 4 useful overs was worth more than the sum of their parts — because they solved the five-bowler constraint without sacrificing batting depth.

The Impact Player Rule dissolved that constraint. The five-bowler requirement now applies only to the bowling innings. In the batting innings, teams can field a specialist batter at 8.

This changes what the market should pay for. A specialist batter at 8 who scores at 150+ strike rate is now more valuable than an all-rounder who bats at 8 and bowls mediocrely — because the specialist can be substituted in, while the mediocre all-rounder occupies the slot without a sub being needed.

The all-rounders who survive this shift are the ones like Narine — whose batting and bowling are both genuine first-class options, not capable-but-not-elite at either. The adequate all-rounder, who used to be a fixture of every IPL squad, is now the player most at risk of being designed out of the lineup.

## What It Doesn't Say

Economy increases for [Rashid Khan](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/rashid-khan) and [Yuzvendra Chahal](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/yuzvendra-chahal) correlate with the post-rule era but cannot be attributed solely to the Impact Player Rule. Pitch preparation changes, bat technology improvements, stronger batting lineups (from multiple structural causes), and the player pool's overall T20 specialisation all contribute.

This story does not count how many times Rashid or [Chahal](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/yuzvendra-chahal) were specifically the player substituted out in IPL 2026 matches. That match-level data is at CricketStudio's canonical match record pages.

The "adequate all-rounder" framing is structural inference about lineup value — not a claim about specific players' careers or franchise decisions.

## Related Concepts

- [What Is the Impact Player Rule](../dossier/what-is-impact-player-rule-ipl.md)
- [Spin Bowling After the Impact Player Rule](../stories/spin-bowling-after-impact-player.md)
- [The Rule That Quietly Rewrote the IPL Lineup](../stories/impact-player-lineup-revolution.md)
- [The Captain's Impact Player Dilemma](../stories/impact-player-captains-dilemma.md)
- [Rashid Khan](../scorebook/players/rashid-khan.md)
- [Yuzvendra Chahal](../scorebook/players/yuzvendra-chahal.md)
- [Sunil Narine](../scorebook/players/sunil-narine.md)
