The IPL is upon us, and the anticipation is killing cricket fans all around the world. The biggest club tournament is about to begin once again, and the very best players on the planet are set to battle it out, ready to be crowned champions.
As always, the formalities of the season must be concluded before play gets underway. The transfers, those released, and those retained all need to be established and confirmed in order for everything to go swiftly and smoothly for each of the eight squads. The movements, contracts, auctions, and revelations are always interesting for IPL fans as we get to see into the thoughts and tactics of the managerial staff.
Seeing how the best T20 teams on the planet line up is always interesting. So, without further ado, let us look into the significant personnel changes for the upcoming Indian Premier League:
Playing Staff
Over the past year to eighteen months, we’ve seen a good amount of negotiations and subsequent transfers between teams ready for the upcoming tournament.
We saw Mumbai’s Mayank Markande move from Mumbai to Delhi, then on to Rajasthan Royals a few weeks later. Being traded twice in one window probably wasn’t what Markande expected, but that’s the formalities of the game sometimes. This move saw Trent Boult head in the other direction, heading from Delhi to Mumbai. We then saw Ajinkya Rahane move from Rajasthan to Delhi following Markande’s second move of the window. Mumbai second’s department was that of Siddhesh Lad – his move to Kolkata came on the 15th November 2019. This vacancy for Mumbai led to the signing of Sherfane Rutherford and Dhawal Kulkarni from Delhi and Rajasthan, respectively.
Delhi waved goodbye to Jagadeesha Suchith as he packed up and moved to Kings XI Punjab, making room for Ravichandran Ashwin to vacate the captaincy at Kings XI and head in the opposite direction. Delhi always saw Rahul Tewatia leave as he made his way to Rajasthan Royals.
The final pieces of movement to talk about in the window is the swap between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals – Ankit Rajpoot moved from Kings to the Royals, while Krishnippa Gowtham went the other way.
Coaching Staff
In terms of those in charge of the operations off-the-pitch, there have been significant changes to over half of the teams involved in this year’s IPL.
– Paddy Upton was replaced by Andrew McDonald at Rajasthan Royals on 21st October 2019
– Mike Hesson was replaced by Anil Kumble at Kings XI Punjab on 8th August 2019
– Jacques Kallis was replaced by Brendon McCullum at Kolkata Knight Riders on 14th July 2019
– Gary Kirsten was replaced by Simon Katich at Royal Challengers Bangalore on 23 August 2019
– Tom Moody was replaced by Trevor Bayliss at Sunrisers Hyderabad on 19 July 2019