The Indian Premier League (IPL) began in 2008 and has since grown to become one of the best franchise cricket leagues ever. Throughout the IPL’s 14-year history, many things have changed, but one thing has stayed constant: only four international players are permitted in each of the eight franchises’ 11-player squads. Although discussions to modify this regulation have been ongoing for some time, no formal word on the rule change has been issued. Reason for Mumbai Indians were allowed to field five foreigners in 2011
The team was forced to select ‘five foreigners’ in all of its Champions League matches
IPL champions five times The Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, accomplished this feat in the now-defunct Champions League in 2011. This was due to injuries to a number of its Indian stars, including Sachin Tendulkar (injured toe), Rohit Sharma (finger injury), and Munaf Patel (knee injury) ruled out before the tournament started. Aditya Tare, Pawan Suyal, Ali Murtaza, Dhawal Kulkarni, and Suryakumar Yadav were all ruled out just before the Champions League T20 started.
As a result, eight of Mumbai Indians’ 23 players were injured or unavailable, and the team was forced to select five foreigners in all of its Champions League matches. According to Wisden, the Governing Council later authorized the side’s request to play five international players in the edition to ensure the “integrity of the tournament”.
Those players were contracted to play in the 2011 IPL
Reason for Mumbai Indians were allowed to field five foreigners in 2011. “The CLT20 governing council has approved a recommendation by the technical committee that to ensure the integrity of the tournament the Mumbai Indians will be permitted to select up to five overseas players in any one team, provided those players were contracted to play in the 2011 IPL,” the CLT20 technical committee stated.
In 2011, the Mumbai Indians, captained by Harbhajan Singh, were the first IPL side to play five foreign players in the Champions League.
Mumbai played Chennai Super Kings in their first game of the tournament, and their XI included Davy Jacobs, Aiden Blizzard, Andrew Symonds, Kieron Pollard, and Lasith Malinga. The Mumbai Indians took advantage of this regulation and went on to win the event, defeating the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to take home a significant trophy before going on to win their first IPL championship in 2013.
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