Best Trade In IPL
The IPL has two main trading windows, one stretching from the end of the season to a month before the auction and another from after the auction till the start of the tournament. Since 2018, there is even a mid-tournament window for franchises to trade uncapped players and players who had not played more than two matches.
There is always a chance for teams to do good business here, which is why we’ve put together a list of five trades that have a claim for the title of Best Trade in IPL History.
5. KL Rahul (Sunrisers Hyderabad to Royal Challengers Bangalore)
The newly appointed captain of the Kings XI Punjab KL Rahul is currently one of the most in-form batsmen in the T20 format and will no doubt be one of the men to watch out for in the tournament. However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for him – he shifted between Sunrisers Hyderabad and his local side Royal Challengers Bangalore for a couple of seasons before it clicked for him. Having gone to SRH in 2014, he returned to RCB in 2016, where his batting prowess was one of the main reasons RCB made it all the way to the finals.
Initially opening the batting, he dropped down to number 4 later on and this change made a lot of difference, both to his own game as well as the form of RCB. In 14 innings, KL Rahul scored 397 runs at an average of 44.11 and a strike rate of 146.49, remarkable numbers for someone who played with the likes of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers! His arrival at RCB definitely counts as one of the best trade in IPL history.
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4. Ashish Nehra (Mumbai Indians to Delhi Daredevils)
Ashish Nehra is something of an IPL journeyman, having played for a number of franchises including Royal Challengers Bangalore, Pune Warriors India, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Chennai Super Kings. However, his move from Mumbai Indians to Delhi Daredevils ahead of the 2009 season was possibly the top trade in IPL . In 2008, Nehra had only taken 12 wickets in 14 outings and moved to Delhi in exchange for Shikhar Dhawan. Being back in familiar surroundings, his form improved dramatically, as he took 19 wickets in 13 matches at an economy rate of just 6.78!
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3. Kevin Pietersen (Deccan Chargers to Delhi Daredevils)
While the big-hitting Englishman never really hit his stride in the IPL, his move from the Deccan Chargers to Delhi Daredevils in 2012 might be the best trade in IPL history (or at least that year). In just eight innings in the tournament, KP smashed 305 runs at an average of over 60 and a strike rate of around 147 for good measure, discovering a rich vein of form that he was never able to recapture. Injury blighted the rest of his IPL career even though he switched franchises a bit later on, but his first season with Delhi would remain his highlight.
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2. Shikhar Dhawan (Sunrisers Hyderabad to Delhi Capitals)
Already mentioned before on this list of possibilities for the top trade in IPL, Shikhar Dhawan moved to Sunrisers Hyderabad after his spell with Mumbai Indians, where he had gone in exchange for Ashish Nehra. After a solid spell with SRH where he even won an IPL title, Dhawan enjoyed a homecoming to his local IPL side, who were undergoing a rebranding and needed an experienced partner for Prithvi Shaw up top.
Dhawan provided just what was needed, scoring 521 runs in 16 matches in 2019, maintaining an average of 34.73 and a strike rate of 135.67. In fact, both SRH and Delhi got a good deal out of the trade, as SRH received three excellent players in return for Dhawan – all-rounder Vijay Shankar, spinner Shahbaz Nadeem, and youngster Abhishek Sharma, all of whom would feature in the SRH campaign in 2019 too.
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1. Quentin de Kock (Royal Challengers Bangalore to Mumbai Indians)
The opening slot at Mumbai Indians was never quite the same after Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya stopped playing – that is, until they acquired Quinton de Kock in what might be the best trade in IPL history for them.
To offset the deal for de Kock, they let Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman and Sri Lankan spinner Akila Dananjaya go, but they never regretted their purchase. In 16 matches, de Kock scored 529 runs at an average of 35.26 and a strike rate of 132.91, almost always getting his side off to a solid start and eventually helping them to a record fourth title win!
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