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Sherfane Rutherford for MI - (Source: AFP)
On Thursday, November 13, the upcoming edition of IPL saw its first official trade as five-time winners roped in Sherfane Rutherford from the Gujarat Titans for 2.6 crores. The Caribbean superstar, who shone for the Shubman Gill-led side, is all set to headline MI's middle-order for IPL 2026.
The trade comes in two days ahead of IPL 2025 retention deadline, as all teams are instructed to submit their final list by November 15. Besides Rutherford, MI also brought in Shardul Thakur and released Arjun Tendulkar.
The fans are celebrating MI's pre-auction strategies, but somehow it is yet to be pointed out as to why the Hardik Pandya-led side is not facing a similar roadblock as the Rajasthan Royals for Samson-Jadeja trade, and how MI actually roped in Rutherford despite the overseas quota stall.
MI's Overseas quota already filled
For the unversed, IPL allows a maximum of eight overseas players in the 25-member squad. For MI, they subscribed to their given quota during IPL 2025.
The five-time winners signed Mitchell Santner, Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton, Trent Boult, Allah Ghazanfar, Reece Topley, Corbin Bosch, and Bevon Jacobs.
Santner, Jacks, Rickelton, and Boult were the regulars for the Hardik Pandya-led side. However, Corbin Bosch and Reece Topley also chipped in between. Meanwhile, Bevon Jacobs and Allah Ghazanfar suffered injuries.
The bottom line is that MI already have its overseas quota complete, and then signing Rutherford as the ninth foreign talent raises eyebrows.
RR-CSK face similar roadblocks
Notably, before the Rutherford deal with MI, one trade deal that hogged the internet was Sanju Samson moving to Chennai Super Kings and Ravindra Jadeja heading back to the Royals, alongside Sam Curran, a part of the trade.
The deal was almost complete before IPL raised an objection to RR's overseas quota, as the Royals have eight foreign stars, and bringing in Sam Curran would not be feasible.
Thus, RR were asked to release a player first to create space for Sam Curran in the team, which delayed the Jadeja-Samson trade.
MI immune to IPL's overseas quota? Possible reason behind Rutherford trade
Mumbai Indians have often been accused of being IPL's favourite team and labelled as the rule-breakers. However, such is not the case this time. There seems to be one logical reason why Rutherford was able to come to MI for IPL 2026.
It could be possible that prior to the Rutherford trade, MI would have already submitted the name of one of their overseas talent to the IPL governing committee that they want to release for the upcoming season.
The name has not been made public because MI did an all-cash deal with Gujarat Titans. IPL's official account is only posting about trade confirmations and nothing yet about the players that have been released by the franchises.
In this case, MI might have already released one or two of their overseas talents before signing Rutherford, and an announcement of the same might be made public on Saturday, November 15.
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