IPL 2026: Teams which benefited most from Impact Player rule
What's the story
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season has come to an end with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) clinching their second consecutive title. The final was played at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium, where RCB defeated Gujarat Titans. The league saw several teams make brilliant use of the Impact Player rule, as the 12th player often benefited them. On this note, let's take a look at teams that benefited the most from the Impact player rule this season.
#1
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
RCB's use of the Impact Player was brilliant to say the least. Earlier in the season, Devdutt Padikkal and Suyash Sharma were the impact players for the majority of games. In addition, they kept Venkatesh Iyer as one of the options. Iyer played some fine knocks at several positions this season. His emergence allowed RCB to field both Jacob Duffy and Josh Hazlewood in the same XI. In a few games in the latter half, RCB even used Romario Shepherd as the Impact Player, as he struggled with the bat but did decently with the ball.
#2
Gujarat TitansÂ
The GT management also made optimum utilization of the 12th player. Rahul Tewatia and Prasidh Krishna were the impact players for most of the season. Their utilization of three-dimensional players was so good that all-rounders Tewatia and Washington Sundar hardly bowl. Jason Holder's addition to the XI further enhanced this advantage as GT batted deep and had several bowling options. They hence qualified for the finals despite a fragile middle order.
#3
Rajasthan RoyalsÂ
The Rajasthan Royals management also did well in this arena. Ravindra Jadeja's presence meant RR had seven batting and five bowling options in the initial XI only. They then had the hard-hitter Shubham Dubey as the Impact Sub. In a must-win game against Mumbai Indians, RR made a big call of not including Jadeja in the initial XI to enhance their batting. They, however, had kept the all-rounder as the Impact sub if his batting was required. The move paid off as Jadeja played a handy cameo lower down the order and also bowled two overs.