Flashback IPL: Top five player trades of all time
The player trading window often turns out to be a crucial period for IPL franchises in securing players of their interest even before going into the auction. It reduces the risk of spending more, depending on the form of a player around the auction time. Over the years, many trades have turned out to be successful in helping the franchises win titles.
Here we look at the top five best trades in IPL history:
5. KL Rahul ahead of IPL 2016: (SRH to RCB)
Ahead of the 2016 IPL season, KL Rahul returned to his home franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore who traded him from Sunrisers Hyderabad. Rahul didn’t have a promising record when it came to T20 cricket and was set to be dropped from RCB’s playing XI after initial failures. An injury to Mandeep Singh got KL Rahul a place in the playing XI as a middle-order batsman. From there on, the keeper-batsman did not look back as he finished with 397 runs, scoring four fifties at an average of 44.11.
4. Ashish Nehra ahead of IPL 2009: (MI to DD)
Ashish Nehra was one of the earliest players to switch franchises in the IPL through trade. Nehra, who played for Mumbai Indians in 2008, was swapped with Delhi Daredevils in return of Shikhar Dhawan. The left-arm pacer had ordinary returns in the inaugural edition but made the most of the South African conditions. He bagged 19 wickets in the 2009 edition as Delhi made it to the semi-finals.
3. Quinton De Kock ahead of IPL 2019: (RCB to MI)
Quinton de Kock’s numbers in the IPL were pretty ordinary until 2018 except for a hundred he scored in Delhi Daredevils’ colours. After a poor 2018 season for RCB, Mumbai Indians got the South African wicketkeeper through trade. In a line-up of big-hitters, de Kock got the assurance and trust from the franchise. He opened the batting along with Rohit Sharma and scored 529 runs and 503 runs respectively in the 2019 and 2020 seasons, playing a key role in MI’s double title wins.
2. Shikhar Dhawan ahead of IPL 2019: (SRH to DC)
Shikhar Dhawan wanted to move out of Sunrisers Hyderabad ahead of the 2019 IPL due to his lower price tag. Hence, SRH had to leave out Dhawan despite him scoring 497 runs in 2018. Hyderabad traded Shikhar with Delhi Capitals and received Shahbaz Nadeem, Abhishek Sharma, and Vijay Shankar in return.
Dhawan turned out to be crucial for Delhi as he scored 521 runs in 2019 where they ended as the No.3 team in the tournament. Shikhar improved his performance in 2020, scoring 618 runs and even became the first-ever player in the history of IPL to score successive tons.
1. Trent Boult ahead of IPL 2020: (DC to MI)
Mumbai Indians got Trent Boult through trade from Delhi Capitals ahead of IPL 2020. Boult’s numbers for the Delhi franchise barely matched his ability even with the new ball. Hence, it was an easy decision for Delhi to leave out the star pacer only to witness the wrath later on. Boult finished the season with 25 wickets and ended up on the title-winning MI team. He took a wicket in the very first over of Delhi Capitals’ innings in all the four meetings.
