The new season of the IPL is all set to begin on March 22 with Kolkata Knight Riders welcoming Royal Challengers Bengaluru to the Eden Gardens in the opening match. Before the season started, we have already seen a few replacements take place, with the latest one being Chetan Sakariya joining KKR for the injured Umran Malik.
SRH roped in Wiaan Mulder for Brydon Carse and Mumbai Indians brought in Mujeeb ur Rahman and Corbin Bosch to replace Allah Ghazanfar and Lizaad Williams respectively. The move to bring in Bosch has courted a lot of controversy as the South African had already registered for the Pakistan Super League as a part of the Peshawar Zalmi side. Bosch now faces legal action from the Pakistan Cricket Board for breaching his existing contract with the PSL side.
With this in mind, we have a look at the revamped player replacement rules for the upcoming season.
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What are the changes made to player replacement rules?
Ahead of the new season, the BCCI has extended its player replacement policy to help teams find substitutes for their injured players. The replacement window for the new season has been extended until the 12 league fixture. Previously, it was limited till the 7th game of the season.
Where can teams sign replacement players from during IPL 2025?
As per the BCCI guidelines, IPL teams can take on replacements for their unavailable players from the Registered Available Player Pool (RAPP). The player can be signed for the entire season and the fee cannot be more than the one the team played for the unavailable roster member during the auction.
The RAPP list contains names of players who were registered for the auction but was not picked. While teams can have contracts with players on the RAPP list for them to act as net bowlers, they will not have any call on the matter if another teams want to sign them as replacements.
When can mid-season changes be made in IPL 2025?
A player who has a season-ending injury or illness may be replaced even if he has already played in a League match during the ongoing season if all the following criteria are met according to the BCCI guidelines.
- The said injury or illness occurs during or before the 12th League Match of the relevant Team in the Season.
- A doctor nominated by the BCCI confirms that the injury or illness is season ending (i.e. it means the Player will not be match fit until after the end of the Season (including the Playoffs);
- Absent the injury or illness, the Player would have been available for all of the remaining Matches in the Season; and
- As a result of the injury or illness, the Player would miss the remaining League Matches in that Season.
The player who is being replaced cannot come back to play for his team during the entire season.
The replacement signing can only be made once the team sends all the relevant documents to the BCCI and await their permission. The replacement players can only be signed after the auction that year is completed.
Can a replacement player be signed for just one game and later released?
While one may assume that such a case is not possible in the IPL, there is actually a provision made by the BCCI to allow partial replacements. This can only happen with wicketkeepers and in exceptional cases. According to the relevant clause:
“Replacement Players will not be allowed to cover the partial unavailability of a Player during the Season unless either one of the following circumstances applies:”
“Where all the wicket keepers in a Franchisee’s Registered Squad are unavailable for a Match then such franchisee should ask BCCI for a special exemption. In such circumstances, BCCI would look favourably on a request to allow one short-term replacement wicketkeeper from outside such Franchisee’s Registered Squad to be brought into its Registered Squad until any one of the specialist wicketkeepers in that Registered Squad becomes available to play at which point such short-term replacement wicketkeeper may no longer play for the relevant Franchisee.”
“In such circumstances, the franchisee shall immediately inform the BCCI upon any of its specialist wicketkeepers becoming eligible to play after any such period of unavailability. If one of the unavailable wicket keepers in a franchisee’s Registered Squad is an Overseas player and that Franchisee has its full quota of 8 Overseas players, the Replacement Player may not be an Overseas player.”
IPL 2025: Replacement players so far
- Chetan Sakariya for Umran Malik (KKR)
- Mujeeb Ur Rahman for Allah Ghazanfar (MI)
- Wiaan Mulder for Brydon Carse (SRH)
- Corbin Bosch for Lizaad Williams (MI)
