The Indian Premier League (IPL) will immediately permit teams to recruit temporary substitute players for the last few games of the rescheduled 2025 season, but those players will not be eligible for retention prior to the subsequent auction.
The news comes after being suspended owing to tensions between India and Pakistan across the border, the league will restart on Saturday.
However, several players will have calendar conflicts as a result of the new dates, and while most international players will spend the remainder of the season in India, others have withdrawn, such as Jamie Overton of the Chennai Super Kings and Jake Fraser-McGurk of the Delhi Capitals.
According to IPL rules, teams are allowed to sign substitutes if an injury or illness strikes during or before their 12th game of the season. However, the league has decided to alter those regulations so that temporary substitutes can be hired for the balance of the rescheduled season.
Any interim replacements hired after the league’s suspension, however, will not be qualified for retention before the next campaign.
The action appears to be intended to prevent a scenario in which franchises are essentially encouraged to sign replacements in order to get around the auction procedure, rather than for justifiable reasons.
