On a balmy Monday night, Mahipal Lomror gave Royal Challengers Bengaluru two tantalising options – an ‘Impact Player’ who can yank the match away from the opposition and a potential successor to Dinesh Karthik, their designated finisher who is playing his last IPL season.
Lomror, who replaced Yash Dayal during the chase of 177 as Impact sub, made an eight-ball 17 and assisted Karthik (28, 10b) in knocking off 47 runs in 22 balls that powered RCB to a four-wicket win over Punjab Kings.
But his maiden foray into the world of ‘Impact Players’ taught Lomror how “weird” that role could be, particularly because of its hurried nature.