The IPL trade window closes on November 17, with teams finalizing their squads before the December 16 auction. Recent moves saw Rishabh Pant return to Delhi Capitals, while Kuldeep Yadav joined Lucknow Super Giants for Rs 13.5 crore. Fans now watch for potential deals involving Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh.
IPL Trades and Transfers: From Hardik Pandya and Sanju Samson to Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul, here is a look at all the major player transfers and trade deals that have occurred in Indian Premier League history.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) player trade and transfer window is eagerly followed by fans of the 10 franchises every year. The trade and retention window ahead of the IPL 2027 auction and season will briefly close on November 17. The last mini-auction of the ongoing cycle will be held on December 16, and teams will have to submit their list of retained players by next week. It will also be an interesting few days ahead, with a few big players likely to be up for movement through the trade window.
Over the last 18 years, the IPL has seen several player trades and transfers as part of player-to-player swap deals that have heavily impacted the involved franchises the following season.
Shortly after the IPL 2026 season, Rishabh Pant and Kuldeep Yadav were involved in a trade deal between Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants. While Pant moved back to his former franchise DC, Kuldeep moved to LSG at Rs 13.5 crore. Pant's earnings meanwhile nearly halved from his Rs 27 crore buy by Lucknow in the IPL 2024 season.
The massive buzz this week has been around the potential trade between Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings, involving star India all-rounder Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh. The deal could very likely become one of the most expensive player trades in IPL history. Last season, Sanju Samson was swooped up by Chennai Super Kings in a trade deal for Rs 18 crore from Rajasthan Royals, making it one of the most expensive player transfers ever in the IPL. In exchange, RR acquired the services of all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran.
Former India cricketers Zaheer Khan, Robin Uthappa, Ashish Nehra and Shikhar Dhawan were involved in the first major IPL trade deals in 2009. Zaheer and Uthappa were involved in a swap deal between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians, with the latter moving to the RCB camp. Meanwhile, Dhawan moved from MI to Delhi Daredevils in exchange for Nehra's services.
Full list of all major IPL player transfers and trades
IPL Major Trades and Transfers Year Player From To Details 2009 Zaheer Khan RCB Mumbai Indians Part of Robin Uthappa swap deal 2009 Ashish Nehra Delhi Daredevils Mumbai Indians Part of Shikhar Dhawan swap deal 2012 Dinesh Karthik KXIP Mumbai Indians 2012 Pragyan Ojha Deccan Chargers Mumbai Indians 2012 Kevin Pietersen Deccan Chargers Delhi Daredevils 2013 Ashish Nehra Delhi Daredevils PWI Part of Ross Taylor swap deal 2015 Parthiv Patel RCB Mumbai Indians 2016 KL Rahul SRH RCB 2019 Quinton de Kock RCB Mumbai Indians Rs 2.8 crore 2019 Marcus Stoinis KXIP RCB Rs 6.2 crore 2019 Shikhar Dhawan SRH Delhi Capitals Rs 5.2 crore 2019 Abhishek Sharma Delhi Capitals SRH Part of Dhawan swap deal 2020 R Ashwin KXIP Delhi Capitals Rs 7.6 crore, part of J Suchith swap deal 2020 Trent Boult Delhi Capitals Mumbai Indians Rs 3.2 crore 2020 Ajinkya Rahane RR Delhi Capitals Rs 5.25 crore 2021 Harshal Patel Delhi Capitals RCB 2021 Robin Uthappa RR CSK 2022 Lockie Ferguson Gujarat Titans KKR Rs 10 crore 2022 Shardul Thakur Delhi Capitals KKR Rs 10.75 crore 2024 Avesh Khan LSG RR Rs 10 crore, Swapped for Devdutt Padikkal 2024 Hardik Pandya Gujarat Titans Mumbai Indians Rs 15 crore 2024 Cameron Green Mumbai Indians RCB Rs 17.5 crore 2025 Sanju Samson RR CSK Rs 18 crore 2025 Ravindra Jadeja CSK RR Rs 14 crore, part of Samson swap deal 2025 Mohammed Shami SRH LSG Rs 10 crore 2026 Rishabh Pant LSG DC Rs 15 crore 2026 Kuldeep Yadav DC LSG Rs 13.5 crre 2026 T Natarajan DC SRH Rs 5 crore 2026 Liam Livingstone SRH CSK Rs 6 crore