The Impact Player provision allows a side to field eight specialist batters now, removing the tail a bowler once fed on and forcing attacks to execute for the entire match without any reprieve. The stairway to stardom now runs through the top order, and academies across South Asia, England and Australia are full of boys who bat first and bowl only if asked. A nation that once exported fast bowling cannot reliably field a 140kph attack, and prepares raging turners to disguise it.