Daily Times

NEW DELHI: One of the important overseas players of the Royal Challengers Bangalore set-up, Quinton de Kock will turn out for the Mumbai Indians from the next IPL, the Mumbai franchise announced. RCB and Mumbai traded the South African wicket-keeper batsman in an all-money deal ahead of the auction that is slated to take place in December. RCB, who have never won the IPL, bought de Kock for INR 2.8 crore in 2018’s player auction and have decided to sell him to the three-time champions at the same price. The Mumbai franchise, to enable this move have in turn let go of the services of Bangladeshi bowler Mustafizur Rahman and Sri Lankan spinner Akila Dananjaya.

The South African, who played eight games for the Virat Kohli-led side and scored 201 runs, will now be the senior most wicket-keeper batsman with Ishan Kishan and Aditya Tare the other options in the MI camp. De Kock is likely to take up the opening spot in the batting line-up, an area that was a concern for the former champions last season. De Kock has also played for the likes of the Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad and has a century and six half-centuries to his name in 34 innings. The IPL allows franchises to trade players mainly in two windows. The first begins at the end of the season and is open till a month before the auction, while the next chance begins after the auction and right up until the first day of the new season. Only last season were the teams given a third window for trading – a mid-tournament window to trade uncapped players and players who had not played more than two games.

The cut-off date for teams to decide on retentions and releases is November 15th, after which teams can only make more changes at the auction. Each franchise will be given INR 3 crore which will be added to their balance from the previous auction. While the IPL is yet to formally announce the date of the auction, teams are also looking for clarity over where and when the next season will take place as India’s general elections are expected to clash with the tournament.

Published in Daily Times, October 21^st 2018.