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Follow UsThe Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have had a bittersweet record while using the impact player rule in IPL so far. In the 2024 season, Yash Dayal was the impact player who used to come in while defending targets in the second innings. Mahipal Lomror was the batter who was largely used to come in at No. 8 while chasing or during batting collapse. They used others like Saurav Chauhan and Himanshu Sharma who failed to make any impact.
Coming into IPL 2025, RCB will be looking to make the best use of the impact player rule and give the team a much-needed boost with bat or ball. A few notable players have done this role in previous seasons and are the best choices.
Swapnil Singh was the lucky charm for RCB in IPL 2024. The introduction of the spin bowling all-rounder in the match against SRH started the winning streak for RCB which resulted in them qualifying for the playoffs against all odds.
As an impact player, he played short cameos against SRH and GT, coming out to bat at eight. With the ball, he brought early breakthroughs by dismissing the openers in a couple of games. He picked up six wickets in seven games.
Coming into the 2025 season, he has scored 102 runs with the bat and picked four wickets with the ball for Uttarakhand in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He will be expected to do a similar job in the upcoming season.
Suyash Sharma was one of the first players to live up to the position of “Impact player” as he debuted as an Impact player for KKR in IPL 2023 game against RCB where he picked up 3/30 playing a match-winning role.
After not making much of an impact in IPL 2024, where he played only two games, he will be looking for a fresh start and a big season for RCB. He will be the key spinner who can be expected to come in during the second innings and play a huge role in defending totals.
He had a decent domestic season in 2024, picking up 11 wickets in the inaugural Delhi Premier League (DPL) and taking five wickets in seven games for Delhi in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024
Manoj Bhandage has been in the RCB camp for the last two seasons. He is probably the only RCB player to have been benched for two complete seasons. In these two years, he showed great ability of a finisher with the bat and a handy right arm medium pacer with the ball.
He has been the best all-rounder in Maharaja Trophy scoring 496 runs at a strike rate of 200 and picking up 21 wickets across the two seasons. For Karnataka, he has taken 10 wickets in 12 games across the 2023 and 2024 seasons. With the bat, he has not been able to showcase much as he is a lower order batter coming at eight.
With the experience in the domestic circuit and learning from the RCB dressing room, Bhandage will be expected to be used as an “impact player” in 2025 season as he has proven himself in domestic competitions.
