IPL have tweaked the replacement player rule |courtesy - BCCI/IPL
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- IPL has announced a major tweak in the rules
- IPL will restart on May 17
- Several overseas stars will be missing
In a major change of policy, the Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to allow teams to sign replacements for the remaining part of the 2025 season, which will restart after a gap of eight days on May 17 with a match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
However, many teams are going to be without several foreign players who had returned home once the decision to suspend the league for a week was announced. With South Africa and Australia set to begin preparations for the World Test Championship (WTC) final and England hosting West Indies in an ODI and T20I series, several teams are sweating over the availability of their overseas stars, especially for the playoffs.
Delhi Capitals (DC) have become the first team to announce a replacement after Mustafizur Rahman replaced Jake Fraser-McGurk, who will not return for the second leg due to personal reasons.
BCCI Tweak Replacement Rule
A report by EspnCricinfo has revealed that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has allowed teams to sign replacement players till the end of the tournament. In a normal season, teams were only allowed to sign an injury replacement until the 12th game of the season, but that will no longer be the case.
However, the Indian cricket governing body has introduced a major tweak to the replacement rule. Any player who is signed from now till the end of the campaign will only be eligible to play for the franchise till the end of this campaign, and franchises will not be able to retain them for the 2026 season of the IPL. However, all players who were signed before the league was suspended are eligible for retention next season.
The tweak in the rule has come to ensure that while franchises can sign players to replace their missing overseas stars but do not use it as a medium to sign players for the next season at a cheap price without entertaining the auction.
"Given the non-availability of certain foreign players due to national commitments or personal reasons or any injury or illness, Temporary Replacement Players will be allowed until the conclusion of this tournament. This decision is subject to the condition that the Temporary Replacement players taken from this point forward will not be eligible for retention in the following year. Temporary Replacement players will have to register for the IPL Player Auction 2026," IPL said in an email to franchises as reported by EspnCricinfo.
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