The Indian Premier League (IPL) authorities had decided to shake things up in IPL 2019, by introducing a football-like concept of mid-season players transfer, for uncapped players. Though a novel idea, it wasn’t utilized by the franchises given only a handful of players were available for the same.
However, with this season of IPL, the 13th edition, things have become different as the IPL authorities decided to tighten the competition further by allowing mid-season transfers of capped players as well.
It also received support from many franchises, with RCB’s director of cricket Mike Hesson saying, “Looks if needs must, later on, we are certainly open to it. We've got a small squad and we've done that for a reason. If something [injuries] was to occur, we'd certainly look at that.”
The IPL 2020 is underway in the UAE and has seen amazing numbers in viewership as it is being played behind closed doors due to the Coronavirus pandemic. With the window approaching quickly, we have everything you might want to know about this mid-season player transfers.
Here is all you need to know about the mid-season transfer window- players up for grabs, eligibility, and rules:
When does it start?
The mid-season players’ transfers start at the half-way mark in the league stage when all franchises have played seven games each.
Importance of the players' transfers?
The mid-season transfer window in IPL is similar to the January transfer window in football. Here, players who failed to create an impact in the first half of the tournament may get a fresh start with a new franchise.
It presents opportunities to players warming the benches to showcase their skills for some other teams in the middle. IPL is a result of some serious planning and the mid-season transfer will help the franchises with a plan B.
How does it work?
As each of the franchises has played atleast 5 matches, they know which of the players are their first-picks and potential backups. The decision lies with the franchise; they need to identify players they want to keep or release.
This also allows the franchises to sign players whom they couldn’t buy at the pre-season auction. However, the transfers can only happen with the mutual consent of both the involved franchises.
Which players can move to?
Last year, the IPL had opened up a five-day window for uncapped players to be loaned mid-season, subject to the player not having featured in more than two games. This season, however, the IPL has allowed the movement of capped players as well, both Indian and overseas.
Franchise-wise possible list of Players eligible for mid-season transfer
(Disclaimer- The list of the players below is an estimated one and nothing has been confirmed as of now)
Mumbai Indians:
Aditya Tare, Anukul Roy, Mitchell McClenaghan, Chris Lynn, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Saurabh Tiwary, Mohsin Khan, Digvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jayant Yadav, Sherfane Rutherford, Anmolpreet Singh
Chennai Super Kings:
KM Asif, Imran Tahir, Narayan Jagadeesan, Karn Sharma, Mitchell Santner, Monu Kumar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shardul Thakur, R Sai Kishore, Josh Hazlewood
Delhi Capitals:
Ajinkya Rahane, Keemo Paul, Sandeep Lamichhane, Alex Carey, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Ishant Sharma, Lalit Yadav, Daniel Sams, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Sharma.
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
Shreevats Goswami, Siddharth Kaul, Wriddhiman Saha, Vijay Shankar, Virat Singh, Bavanaka Sandeep, Fabien Allen, Sanjay Yadav, Basil Thampi, Billy Stanlake, Mohammad Nabi, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem
Kings XI Punjab:
Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Murugan Ashwin, Deepak Hooda, Ishan Porel, Chris Jordan, Simran Singh, Tajinder Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Darshan Nalkhande, Krishnappa Gowtham, Hardus Viljoen, Chris Gayle, Harpreet Brar, Jagadeesha Suchith, Mandeep Singh
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Tom Banton, Nikhil Naik, Ali Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Siddhesh Lad, Chris Green, M Siddharth, Lockie Ferguson
Rajasthan Royals:
Varun Aaron, Kartik Tyagi, Oshane Thomas, Aniruddha Joshi, Andrew Tye, Akash Singh, Anuj Rawat, Yashaswi Jaiswal, Mayank Markande, Ankit Rajpoot, Manan Vohra, Mahipal Lomror, Shashank Singh, David Miller
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
Josh Philippe, Chris Morris, Dale Steyn, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pavan Deshpande, Adam Zampa, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Parthiv Patel, Pawan Negi, Umesh Yadav
