The Indian Premier League (IPL) will allow teams to recruit temporary substitute players for the remainder of the 2025 season. However, those players will not be eligible for retention prior to the subsequent auction.

The cash-rich league will restart on May 17 after being suspended owing to India-Pakistan tensions at the border last week. Several overseas players will have calendar conflicts as a result of the revised schedule.

While most international stars will spend the remainder of the season in India, others have pulled out, such as Jamie Overton of the Chennai Super Kings and Jake Fraser-McGurk of the Delhi Capitals.

According to IPL rules, franchises are allowed to sign substitutes if an injury or illness occurs during or before their 12th game of the season. However, the league has decided to modify those laws so that temporary substitutes can be hired for the balance of the rescheduled season.

It is pertinent to mention here that any interim replacements signed after the league's suspension will not be qualified for retention before the next season. This move seems to be designed to avoid a scenario in which teams are essentially encouraged to sign replacements in order to get around the auction procedure, rather than for justifiable reasons.

In a memo, the IPL told 10 franchises that it had "reassessed" the rules for replacement. "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," the league said.

"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."

The IPL also made it clear that any replacements who were approved before the league's suspension might still be kept for the upcoming edition.

In the 48 hours prior to suspension, four players were hired -- Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Nandre Burger (both Rajasthan Royals), Mayank Agarwal (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), and Sediqullah Atal (Delhi Capitals).

On Wednesday (May 14), DC roped in Mustafizur Rahman as the replacement for Jake Fraser-McGurk.