The Indian Premier League Governing Council (IPLGC) had opened up a trade window for the franchises to deal players in the off-season ahead of the 2019 edition.
The final date to release the players that the teams want to release and retain is fast approaching and thus the first deal was made on Friday. South Africa’s wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock is the first trade ahead of the auction for the 12th season that will take place in mid-December. The former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) player will now feature in the Mumbai Indians (MI) side.
RCB chose to make it a money deal and sold De Kock to MI for his auction price of Rs 2.8 crore.
According to a report in ESPNcricinfo, MI has bought the Proteas wicketkeeper and to make up for it released two players worth the same value on the purse. Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman whom they had bought for Rs 2.2 crore along with Sri Lankan spinner Akila Dananjaya who cost them Rs 50 lakh in the IPL 2018 auction have been released.
De Kock’s inclusion now gives Mumbai the option of an opener who can get them off to a flying start something they relied on Windies’ Evin Lewis for in the last season.
Earlier, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that the last date for retentions and release of players is November 15.
However, the official date for the auctions hasn’t been released but according to ESPNcricinfo, it is set to be between December 15 and 20 in Goa.
