IPL 2021: Rajasthan Royals Request Players From Other Franchises As Loan Window Gets Activated
Published - 26 Apr 2021, 07:08 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:44 AM
The Rajasthan Royals (RR) have turned to other franchises to help them refill holes created by the unavailability of 4 overseas players for the remaining part of the IPL 2021. As many as four foreign players have pulled out from the Sanju Samson-led outfit with still little less than two-thirds of their league matches remaining.
On Sunday, Rajasthan Royals announced that pacer Andrew Tye has flown back to Australia due to personal reasons days after Liam Livingstone had pulled out and flown back to England citing “bubble fatigue.”
Ahead of Tye and Livingstone’s loss, the 2008 champions were severely hit by the loss of Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, both of whom have been ruled out of the tournament due to injuries. Rajasthan Royals is now left with only four foreign players – Jos Buttler, Chris Morris, David Miller, and Mustafizur Rahman – and still has 9 league matches to play.
Rajasthan Royals seek players from franchises in the loan window
According to a report in Cricbuzz, the Royals have contacted other franchises to loan players as the loan window has been activated on Monday.
As per the IPL playing conditions, “the loan Window will start at 9 am IST on the day following the 20th league match scheduled for the season and will end at noon IST on the day following the 56th league match scheduled for the season.”
The report revealed that the Rajasthan Royals have asked at least two franchises for players to balance their squad.
“We have received a request from them a couple of days ago and we have not decided on it. The team management will take a call,” confirmed a CEO from a southern-based franchise to Cricbuzz.
“We will consider if we can loan them a player or two from our surpluses,” said another CEO.
According to the IPL rules, a player can be loaned only if he has featured in less than two matches at the start of the loan period. He can be loaned in a season only once, and he cannot play against his home franchise. Of course, the consent of the player is mandatory.
Despite in absence of their two-star players in Stokes and Archer, it can be said that RR has done well in winning 2 matches out of 5 and they sit at the 6th position on the points table – the road to the playoffs only gets tougher as fatigue seeps in the first eleven players as the tournament progresses in the summer.
Their Mumbai leg is done and dusted, and the Sanju Samson-led side will travel to Delhi, where they will first meet the defending champions Mumbai Indians on Thursday.