3 regular impact substitutes who haven’t made a big impact in IPL 2023 so far
The 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is in its fourth week and we have already seen some fascinating games and have also witnessed some miraculous performances, none more special than Rinku Singh’s five sixes in the last five balls to hand KKR an unlikely victory from the jaws of defeat against Gujarat.
With the introduction of the impact player rule, all the franchises have more or less settled in with their combination and their set of impact players who can lend the ideal balance given the match situation.
A team gets a chance to put in a batter as an impact sub if there is a cluster of wickets early on and vice versa when it comes to the bowling department.
It becomes difficult for a substitute player to suddenly get into the game after warming the bench for the majority of the IPL match.
While the likes of Venkatesh Iyer and Suyash Sharma have been exceptional whenever they have been employed in any situation of the game, most of the impact subs are yet to make a substantial impact on their teams.
With that said, let's take a look at three regular impact substitutes who haven’t made a big impact in IPL 2023 so far.
#1 Prithvi Shaw
One of the finest stroke players in the tournament, Prithvi Shaw has been woefully out of touch and is yet to register a single 20+ score in any of the matches so far.
Prithvi, who likes taking on the bowlers in the powerplay, has looked totally out of shape. For a player of his calibre, his below-par returns have continued since the previous season.
In six matches so far, Prithvi has only amassed 46 runs with two ducks to his name. He is an exquisite timer of the ball and the team management might persist with him for a few more matches.
#2 Krishnappa Gowtham
Coming in as the impact sub in two of the three matches he has played so far, Krishnappa Gowtham has failed to make an impression with bat or ball.
He went wicketless against the Chennai Super Kings and the Delhi Capitals, in addition to scoring an unbeaten 16 and 7 respectively.
Gowtham's only wicket IPL wicket in 2023 came against the Punjab Kings and since that encounter, he has been warming the bench.
#3 Ayush Badoni
Ayush Badoni was touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket after his heroic performances during the initial stages of IPL 2022.
Since then, however, he has gradually faded away from the limelight as good performances have been few and far between.
Badoni has been included in the starting XI in a couple of matches so far but has been used as the impact sub for the rest of the games.
He has played a few delightful shots but those have been very limited. Badoni has scored just 77 runs in six games so far and definitely needs to get some runs under his belt in the upcoming games.