Sachin Tendulkar would like some balance between bat and ball to return to the IPL and, to that end, wants to see the impact player rule done away with.

“I feel there are a few things which, on a personal note that I can say, I think the impact player needs to go away,” Tendulkar said, speaking at the ESPNcricinfo awards for the greatest international cricketers of the 21st century a night before the IPL 2026 final between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad.

“I feel when in a T20 format you just have to play 20 overs, and then you are adding one more batter to that line-up. Where bowlers are already being challenged, I find that imbalance.”

The impact player rule, introduced in 2023, allows teams to swap one player out of their XIs and bring in another player from a list of five decided before the toss. The primary criticism of the rule is that it allows batters to bat with greater freedom, and that has been reflected in the rising scoring rates and team totals over the past two-three seasons.

Tendulkar, in fact, had two more suggestions to change the perceived imbalance between bat and ball at the IPL. Firstly, break the powerplay up into batters’ powerplay and bowlers’ powerplay. Plus, five overs for one bowler in every innings.

“[In] the powerplay of six overs with field restrictions, only two fielders are allowed outside the ring. Let the first four overs be batters’ powerplay with the same field restrictions, and post that, the remaining two powerplay overs should be determined by the fielding captain as and when he wants to take. Those two consecutive overs will also get one fielder extra outside the ring at any stage of the game,” Tendulkar, who was voted the greatest batter of the 21st century at the awards by a jury of 25 eminent cricketers, said. “So you [the fielding side] are able to control the game better.”

And the final remedial measure: “One bowler should be allowed to bowl five overs. Because invariably the best bowler of the side is going to bowl that fifth over. Wouldn’t you want to see that best bowler bowl more? The top batters are batting sometimes even 20 overs. Why shouldn’t the best bowler be bowling five overs?”

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo on the subject some time ago, Ricky Ponting had asked for the extra-over theory to be “trialled in lesser competitions”, while Tom Moody and Ian Bishop had instead asked for pitches to be more sporting, giving a fair chance to batters as well as bowlers.