Even though the IPL season hasn’t begun yet, several replacements have already been named, and one of them has been sued. Wiaan Mulder for Brydon Carse by Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman for Allah Ghazanfar by Mumbai Indians, and Chetan Sakariya for Umran Malik by Kolkata Knight Riders have all been replaced with ease.
Any of the three injured pacers in the Lucknow Super Giants squad—Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, and Avesh Khan—may be replaced by Shardul Thakur and Shivam Mavi. Strangely enough, one replacement has encountered issues with Corbin Bosch, who replaced Lizaad Williams in the Mumbai Indians squad. The PCB may take legal action against Bosch for allegedly breaching a contract. For the IPL gig, he allegedly skipped the PSL deal.
The rules will be discussed later. In India, if a player sustains a season-ending illness or injury both before and during the season, the Board of Control for Cricket permits substitutions. Actually, this season, the BCCI changed the regulation to permit substitutions till the season’s twelfth league game. It was formerly only permitted until the seventh game.
How do the IPL’s replacement rules operate?
A player must have his name on the Registered Available Player Pool (RAPP) list for the current season in order to be eligible to enter as a replacement player, and his league fee for the entire season, assuming full availability, must not be less than the reserve price he has set and that is listed on the RAPP list.
Franchisees have occasionally had bowlers listed as net bowlers on the RAPP list. However, if another franchisee wants to take a player or players, those franchises won’t have the power to prohibit them. The cost of hiring a substitute player cannot exceed the league fee that would have been required of the player he would be replacing.
“If a Replacement Player is recruited during a season, the League Fee actually paid to him will be reduced to take account of the Franchisee’s Matches during the relevant season which took place before he was registered and any other relevant deductions under the Player Contract,” the rule states.
How does the salary cap change as a result of the replacement rules?
According to the BCCI regulation, “For the purposes of the Salary Cap for that Season, the League Fee payable to any Replacement Player signed pursuant to this paragraph 6 will be ignored.” The League Fee due to the player for the following season will be deducted from the salary cap for that season if a replacement player’s player contract is extended in line with its provisions. Naturally, the statutory IPL provisions are applicable in this case. Franchisees must continue to adhere to the squad composition rules of 25 players while adding substitute players.
Franchisees who take replacement players for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 seasons have a right (if any) to extend the term of the contract for the next appropriate season. “For the avoidance of doubt, if a franchisee extends the contract of a replacement player, he shall, for any relevant subsequent season, be treated as any other player for the purpose of the squad composition regulations and the salary cap,” the BCCI states.
The rules provide that an injured player who has participated in a game may be replaced in the middle of the season.
i) The aforementioned sickness or injury strikes during or prior to the relevant team’s 12th league game of the season;
“ii) a BCCI-designated physician certifies that the injury or illness is season-ending, meaning the player won’t be fit to play until the season is over, including the playoffs);”
iii) the player would have been available for all of the season’s remaining games had they not been ill or injured; and
iv) The player would miss the remaining league games in that season due to the illness or injury.
Returning to the details, Mujeeb joined MI for INR 2 crore, even though he replaces a player who was paid INR 4.8 crore (Allah Ghazanfar). SRH and KKR have acquired Mulder and Sakaria for their base cost of INR 75 lakh each. Bosch’s worth isn’t mentioned, though. He paid INR 30 lakh to enter the auction, but he was not sold. This is his replacement for fellow South African Lizaad Williams, who MI purchased at auction for INR 75 lakh. However, it is thought that Bosch received a contract around INR 50–75 lakh after Peshawar Zalmi selected him in the Diamond category of the PSL draft (worth between USD 60,000 and 80,000).
India
