Speaking on behalf of all the bowlers participating in the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Lucknow Super Giants all-rounder Shardul Thakur urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to get rid of “entertainment factors” in the form of high-scoring pitches and impact-player rule and give bowlers a “fair and square chance” in the contest.
Speaking to the press ahead of Lucknow’s first home game of the season against Punjab Kings, Shardul called for BCCI to get away with one-sided contests and offer bowlers a fair chance against the batters.
“It is not what I want, but it is what the bowlers want,” he said. “A lot of them might not be outspoken or they might not get a chance to speak in front of media or give interviews about the pitch conditions. All that the bowlers are asking is to prepare the pitch in such a manner that the game hangs in balance and it should not be just one-sided where batters are coming and smashing us, because all we want is a fair chance and fair opportunity in the game.”
In 11 matches thus far in the IPL 2025 games, the 200-plus mark has been breached 10 times, with Sunrisers Hyderabad having scored a mammoth total of 286 for six in their opening fixture. It was one run short of their record for the highest team total score in IPL, which was witnessed in 2024, a season with 41 scores of more than 200 runs in 74 games.
Weighing in on the much-debated impact-player rule, Shardul was critical of it but reckoned high-scoring games were a result of batting-friendly pitches.
“We have already seen the rule change and the Impact Player rule coming in, so every team is potentially playing an extra batter, especially while chasing or even let’s say you are batting first, then [everyone] is going in with that depth, because they have now an opportunity to change the batter and call a bowler while defending or vice versa,” he said.
“The Impact Player rule is an entertainment factor and games change a lot, but that these 250 scores are being made is not only because of this rule change, but also because of the way the pitches are being made. We are just saying as a bowling unit that give us a fair and square chance where we can get a batsman out.”
