Can Ganguly still make a comeback in IPL 4? Yes, unless..

{You can find the updated article here}

Sri Lankan board, for whatever reason, has called their current players back to Sri Lanka for the upcoming tour of England. They say the conditions in England are different from the sub-continent and they want to prepare well in advance. If (and when) this happens, IPL 4 will certainly miss players like Sangakkara, Dilshan, Jayawardene, Malinga. Their teams will find it tough to replace them for sure.

Based on the matches we had till now in the IPL, we can safely assume the following:

1. IPL is not turning out to be as successful it was in the previous year.
2. Sangakkara and Jayawardene are the captains for Deccan and Kochi respectively, who incidentally aren't performing to their potential.
3. These teams will definitely need replacements, and a suitable replacement at that.
4. Enter Sourav Ganguly.

The IPL rules appear to be clear (they are subject to modification based on the situation at hand). A team can buy a player in one of the following ways: Auction, uncapped players outside the auction, mutual trading and replacements. The IPL rules for replacements state that players can only be chosen from the list of players who went unsold in the auction in January. They cannot be paid more than the player they are replacing but it can be lesser depending on his base price in the auction.

I had mentioned in one of my post that there are many reasons why Ganguly was left out. And the only way he can make a comeback is by being a replacement player. Here is his opportunity to make it count.

Assuming he is still in the fray, teams like Deccan and Kochi will be desparate to have him in the team. Especially Kochi, since they anyways wanted to buy Ganguly as their captain post auction.

However, nothing is considered final in the IPL. In 2009, the replacement rule said that the player can only be replaced if he can't play the entire season. There is no clarity as to whether this rule still exist or if they have changed it post-Modi era.

The next 20 days will be interesting for IPL 4, both on and off the field.