Debated bringing in impact player for SA20 season three but felt not quite ready, says Smith

New Delhi, Sep 9 (IANS) Graeme Smith, League Commissioner, SA20, revealed the tournament considered bringing in the Impact Player rule for its third season starting on January 9 next year. But with the feeling that the competition wasn’t ready for the ruling and the need to keep things simple for fans, they decided against introducing it.The Impact Player rule has been present since IPL 2023, where it allows teams to bring in a player from the five nominated substitutes at any point in a match to replace a player in the playing eleven once the match begins. However, many players and coaches voiced against the ruling in IPL 2024, citing the disruption of balance in the game caused by it.“On the innovation side, we debate every year. What we will do is we will probably end up sticking to the innovations we brought in last year around deciding the team selection. For example, after the toss, depending on whether you are batting or bowling. We debated bringing in the impact player.”“But we felt that we were not quite ready for the impact player. With all the introduction of new fans and people watching for the first time, we felt that it is important to establish and keep things as simple as possible for the people who are watching. So they can learn and fall in love with the game and understand it. So, we are not doing that,” said former South Africa captain Smith in an exclusive conversation with IANS.With leagues like IPL, The Hundred, CPL and BBL having a successful women’s version of the tournament, Smith said the SA20 is assessing every year to see when the time would be right to bring in a franchise-based T20 league for women’s