The Indian Premier League (IPL) auction often grabs headlines with its huge bids and dramatic moments, but the IPL trade window works quietly in the background. Despite it being underused and underrated, the trade window allows franchises to iron out chinks in their squads, especially after an IPL campaign.
This year, Shardul Thakur has become the first official trade. Lucknow Super Giants traded Thakur to Mumbai Indians for Rs 2 Cr. Mumbai also traded Sherfane Rutherford from Gujarat Titans for Rs 2.6 Cr.
However, there will be a few more trade deals. With rumours of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) chasing Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) captain Sanju Samson, the trade window has become a hot topic among fans. The biggest trade deal certainly took place before the IPL 2024 auction when one business affected three franchises! That was, of course, Hardik Pandya’s move to the Mumbai Indians (MI). The former Gujarat Titans (GT) skipper shocked everyone. As a result, MI offloaded Cameron Green to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) as well.
What is IPL trade window & how does it work?
The IPL trade window is a transfer period before and after the auction, where teams can swap or buy players outside of the auction room. It comes in two phases:
- First Phase: Starts seven days after the IPL ends and runs until a week before the auction.
- Second Phase: Starts after the auction and ends 30 days before the season begins.
Trades can be:
- Player Swaps (no money involved)
All-Cash Deals (full price transfer)
Trade + Transfer Fee (mutually agreed fee in addition to player’s auction value)
List of all trade deals in IPL history
| Year | Player Traded | From | To | Deal Type | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Robin Uthappa | MI | RCB | Player swap | Zaheer Khan moved the other way |
| 2009 | Zaheer Khan | RCB | MI | Player swap | Part of Uthappa deal |
| 2009 | Ashish Nehra | MI | DD | Player Swap | Shikhar Dhawan moved away |
| 2009 | Shikhar Dhawan | DD | MI | Player Swap | Ashish Nehra moved away |
| 2012 | Dinesh Karthik | PBKS | MI | Cash deal | – |
| 2013 | Ross Taylor | DC | PWI | Cash deal | – |
| 2015 | Parthiv Patel | RCB | MI | Cash deal | |
| 2015 | Manvinder Bisla | KKR | RCB | Cash deal | |
| 2015 | Unmukt Chand | – | MI | Cash deal | – |
| 2015 | Vinay Kumar | – | MI | Cash deal | – |
| 2015 | Michael Hussey | MI | Released | Released | Part of space clearing |
| 2015 | Praveen Kumar | MI | Released | Released | Part of space clearing |
| 2016 | Kedar Jhadav | DC | RCB | ||
| 2019 | Mandeep Singh | RCB | PBKS | Player Swap | Trade with Stoinis |
| 2019 | Marcus Stoinis | PBKS | RCB | Player Swap | Trade with Mandeep |
| 2019 | Shikhar Dhawan | SRH | DC | Player swap + cash | Traded for Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Nadeem |
| 2019 | Ravichandran Ashwin | PBKS | DC | Cash deal | ₹7.6 crore |
| 2019 | Ajinkya Rahane | RR | DC | Player swap | Mayank Markande, Rahul Tewatia to RR |
| 2019 | Trent Boult | DC | MI | Cash deal | Rs 3.20 crore |
| 2020 | Robin Uthappa | RR | CSK | Cash deal | – |
| 2020 | Harshal Patel | DC | RCB | Player swap | Traded along with Daniel Sams |
| 2020 | Daniel Sams | DC | RCB | Player swap | Traded along with Harshal Patel |
| 2022 | Shardul Thakur | DC | KKR | Cash deal | ₹10.75 crore |
| 2023 | Jason Behrendorff | RCB | MI | Cash deal | – |
| 2023 | Romario Shepherd | LSG | MI | Cash deal | ₹50 lakh |
| 2023 | Avesh Khan | LSG | RR | Player swap | For Devdutt Padikkal |
| 2023 | Devdutt Padikkal | RR | LSG | Player swap | For Avesh Khan |
| 2024 | Hardik Pandya | GT | MI | Cash deal | ₹15 crore approx |
| 2024 | Cameron Green | MI | RCB | Cash deal | ₹17.5 crore |
| 2025 | Shardul Thakur | LSG | MI | Cash deal | ₹2 crore |
| 2025 | Sherfane Rutherford | GT | MI | Cash deal | ₹2.6 Crore |
| 2025 | Mayank Markande | KKR | MI | Cash deal | ₹30 lakh |
| 2025 | Sanju Samson | RR | CSK | Player swap | For Jadeja & Curran (₹18 crore) |
| 2025 | Ravindra Jadeja & Sam Curran | CSK | RR | Player swap | For Samson (₹14 crore & ₹2.4 crore) |
| 2025 | Mohammed Shami | SRH | LSG | Cash | ₹10 crore |
| 2025 | Arjun Tendulkar | MI | LSG | Cash | ₹30 lakh |
| 2025 | Nitish Rana | RR | DC | Cash | ₹4.2 crore |
| 2025 | Donovan Ferreira | DC | RR | Cash | ₹1 crore |
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