IPL 2025 is kicking off on March 22nd, and the first game’s a big one: Kolkata Knight Riders (the champs) against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Now, before the T20 madness begins, there’s been a buzz about a new rule change. Apparently, the BCCI (that’s the Board of Control for Cricket in India) has made it so teams can bring in temporary players under special circumstances. Cricbuzz says the BCCI already told all ten teams about this. The catch? Any replacement player has to come from a pool of registered, available players (RAPP). Word is, team managers are saying they’ve never actually used this rule before.
Here’s the deal: it’s all about wicketkeepers. The rule basically says if a team’s wicketkeepers are *all* out of commission for a game, they can ask the BCCI for a one-time exception. The BCCI would probably let them bring in a short-term replacement wicketkeeper from outside the team’s current roster. This substitute can only play until one of the team’s original wicketkeepers is ready to get back on the field. At that point, the stand-in has to step down.
The rule also says that the team needs to let the BCCI know ASAP when one of their main wicketkeepers is fit to play again. If the injured wicketkeeper is someone from another country, and the team already has their limit of eight foreign players, then the replacement player has to be Indian.
There are also other replacement rules, such as what happens if someone gets a serious injury. A player who’s out for the season with an injury or illness can be replaced, even if they’ve already played in a game this season, but a few things have to line up:
First, the injury or illness has to happen before or during the team’s 12th game of the season.
Second, a doctor approved by the BCCI has to say the injury is season-ending, meaning they won’t be ready to play before the season (including playoffs) wraps up.
Third, the player has to have been good to compete for the rest of the season if they hadn’t gotten hurt.
Fourth, the injury or illness will make them miss every single remaining game this season.
