Instances in IPL when team played less than 4 overseas players

In the match against Kolkata Knight Riders, the Kings XI Punjab recently fielded just 3 overseas players and raised a lot of eyebrows. It is not a usual sight to see a side play only 3 overseas players as against the permissible rules of playing 4 foreign players in a match. The rules of IPL states ‘Amongst the playing 11 members of a team, no more than four can be foreign players.’ However, it is not the first time that this has happened in the history of IPL. As many as 7 instances have been recorded in the IPL when a team has played less than 4 overseas players.

The first instance was in the inaugural edition of IPL in 2008, when Rajasthan Royals played 3 foreign players against the Delhi Daredevils. The Royals, under Shane Warne, played Darren Lehmann and Shane Watson apart from the skipper himself. They ended up losing the match by 9 wickets. In the same edition, Rajasthan Royals again fielded 3 overseas players against Kings XI Punjab. This time, they were led by Shane Watson and the other two foreign players were Younis Khan and Kamran Akmal. The match is remembered for Shaun Marsh’s plundering century that handed the Royals a 41 run defeat.

A couple of seasons later, in 2010, Mumbai Indians played only 3 overseas players against the Rajasthan Royals at Mumbai. Mumbai played with Sanath Jayasuriya, Ryan McLaren, and Lasith Malinga. It was the game when a 37-ball century by Yusuf Pathan was not enough to help Royals win the match.

In the inaugural match of the 2011 IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders did the unthinkable when they played only 2 overseas players in their playing eleven against the Chennai Superkings. Jacques Kallis and Eoin Morgan were the foreign players to play the game for KKR in that match. KKR lost the match by 2 runs. In their next game, KKR added Ryan ten Doeschate to their playing eleven against the Deccan Chargers and hence fielded only 3 foreign players. On this occasion, KKR won the match by 9 runs riding on the heroics of their overseas player Jacques Kallis.

Playing against the Kings XI Punjab in 2012, Mumbai Indians opted for only 3 foreign players and played Thisara Perera, James Franklin, and Kieron Pollard. They suffered a 6 wicket defeat in the match owing to poor bowling performance.

The most recent instance of this came in the 2016 edition of the IPL, when Kings XI Punjab fielded 3 overseas players, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell and David Miller, against the Kolkata Knight Riders. KXIP failed to chase the target of 164 set by KKR and lost by 7 runs.

Fact – During the 2011 Champions League, Mumbai Indians were allowed to play 5 overseas players since 8 of their Indian players were injured, including captain Sachin Tendulkar. All other IPL teams in the competition could field only 4 overseas players.

Instances of teams playing with less than 4 foreigners in IPL. #KXIPvKKR #IPL pic.twitter.com/I3SAQCaVtx

— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) May 4, 2016

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