What is the IPL 2024 trade window? Rules explained 

The Indian Premier League (IPL) auction for the 2024 season is all set to be held in Dubai on December 19. Before that, all 10 franchises will have to submit their retention list, the deadline for which has been set as Sunday, November 26.

November 26 is also the last day of the trade window. As the name suggests, the period ahead of announcing the retention list allows franchises to trade players. The trade can happen in two ways. Franchises can either swap cricketers between themselves or buy players in an all-cash deal.

Further, if more than one franchise is interested in purchasing a particular player, the franchise that is selling the cricketer has the right to choose which team the player goes to. Having said that, player consent is mandatory ahead of trading or transferring any cricketer.

The IPL governing council holds the right to give final approval for the trade deals.

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IPL 2024 trade deals

There have been only a handful of trade deals so far even as the retention deadline for IPL 2024 is only a few days away.

West Indies’ bowling all-rounder Romario Shepherd was traded to Mumbai Indians (MI) from Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). Shepherd has played 4 IPL matches so far, claiming three wickets.

Apart from LSG, he has also represented Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League. The 28-year-old was traded to Mumbai Indians for his existing fee of ₹50 lakh.

In a swap deal, Indian pacer Avesh Khan was traded to Rajasthan Royals (RR) from Lucknow Super Giants, while Devdutt Padikkal went to LSG from RR in return as part of the arrangement.

Avesh was purchased by LSG at the 2022 mega auction for ₹10 crore, while Padikkal was bought by RR at the same auction for ₹7.75 crore. The former has played 47 IPL matches and has 55 wickets to his name. As for Padikkal, he has featured in 57 IPL games and has scored 1521 runs, with one hundred and 9 fifties to his credit.

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Hardik Pandya set for MI comeback?

According to some reports doing the rounds, all-rounder Hardik Pandya could make a comeback to the Mumbai Indians franchise. The Gujarat Titans (GT) captain led his new franchise to victory in the 2022 season, while they finished runners-up in 2023.

Getting Pandya back in the mix, though, would cost MI ₹15 crore, which might be the biggest hindrance in their way in case they are indeed thinking along those lines.