IPL: 5 trades that turned out to be blunders in the tournament

Success doesn’t come easy for teams in a hyper-competitive league like the Indian Premier League (IPL). The management has to make a lot of tactical decisions, and hope that they back the correct players according to the situation of the game. A lot of times, they have to end up taking extremely harsh decisions as well. 

The IPL auction is the ideal opportunity for teams to identify their weaknesses and cover them by buying the appropriate players. Champion teams like Mumbai and Chennai do not believe much in tinkering around with the core, as too much chopping and changing tends to break the momentum of the team. 

Pre-season trades are another underrated method used by franchisees to fulfil certain requirements. However, there have been a number of players, who have been released by their original franchise, and are now performing to their potential for their new teams. 

In this article, we would talk about 5 such IPL trades in recent times which have turned out to be huge mistakes: 

1. Trent Boult (DC to MI)

Blackcaps left-arm pacer Trent Boult has established himself as one of the most lethal bowlers in the world across all formats. Boult has represented Delhi Capitals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders in the past, and is now playing for defending champions Mumbai Indians. He has picked up 58 wickets in 46 games at an economy rate of 8.60. 

Delhi Capitals released him ahead of IPL auction before this year’s edition. He took 23 wickets in 19 matches at an economy rate of 8.78 for Delhi in his two-year stint with them. Delhi had purchased him for INR 2.2 crores in the auction, while Mumbai offered him another crore to seal the tempting deal.

The reason why this trade ended up as a tactical mistake is because Boult and Kagiso Rabada together were a lethal pair. Two overseas pacers- one left-handed, and one right-handed- add a lot to the table.

This ended up strengthening Mumbai, as they had released Jason Behrendorff. While Anrich Nortje has had a good tournament, Boult has been right up there in the Purple Cap race with 20 wickets in 13 games.