Aakash Chopra calls for mid-season transfer window in IPL

Corey Anderson hasn’t played a single match for the Mumbai Indians this year

This edition of the Indian Premier league has seen plenty of deserving cricketers sitting in the dugout after not being picked by their team managements into the playing XI. This has been a feature of the cash-rich tournament from its inception.

This mostly happens to the overseas cricketers due to the rule of only four overseas players are allowed to play in a match. Many cricket experts have spoken about the need for the IPL to have a mid-season transfer and loan window to trade cricketers.

Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has voiced his support for the mid-season transfer window for IPL on Twitter.

Corey & Boult haven't played...Steyn, Guptill have hardly played. There's a strong case for a transfer-window during the IPL too.

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 2, 2016

Players like Corey Anderson and Trent Boult haven’t featured in a single match in this year’s tournament for their respected teams. Martin Guptill and Dale Steyn also have played only one match this year so far. These players have already proved their calibre on the international level but still can’t find a spot in the playing XI of their teams.  

There are also teams which are suffering from injury problems. Teams like the Rising Pune Supergiants and Royal Challengers Bangalore have lost key players due to injuries. The Pune-based franchise has lost four important overseas players so far in the form of Faf du Plessis, Steve Smith, Kevin Pietersen and Mitchell Marsh.

The mid-season transfer window will increase the quality of cricket in IPL

These players, who haven’t featured in the plans of their team managements would be welcomed by an injury-hit team like Pune with open arms. The idea of a mid-season transfer window would surely boost the quality of cricket in the second-half of the tournament. 

The injured players have been replaced by those players, who don’t have a current IPL franchise. Though the IPL has a pre-season transfer window, that it is not enough to cover the mid-season crisis that several teams are going through at the moment.

Teams like Pune and Bangalore are currently at the bottom of the points table and would benefit if the IPL governing council decides to go ahead with the mid-season transfer window for the tournament.