Over the last few months, calls to allow five foreigners in an IPL team have been doing the rounds. The matter continues to be up for debate considering the representation of local talent being potentially hindered, but there was a one-off instance when IPL team Mumbai Indians did field five overseas players in their playing XI.
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Way back in 2011, when the Champions League T20 had not yet been scrapped, Mumbai Indians were permitted to play with more than four overseas cricketers after a number of injuries in their side. The franchise was without skipper Sachin Tendulkar (injured toe), Rohit Sharma (finger injury) and Munaf Patel even before the tournament began while Aditya Tare and Pawan Suyal along with Ali Murtaza, Dhawal Kulkarni, and Suryakumar Yadav were ruled out just before the Champions League T20 began.
A total of eight players out of 23 were, thus, unavailable and another injury to an Indian player in the tournament would mean that the side would not be able to take the field. The rule of four foreigners in an IPL team extended into the Champions League T20 as well.
The Governing Council later approved the side be allowed to play five overseas players in the edition to ensure the “integrity of the tournament.”
“The CLT20 governing council has approved a recommendation by the technical committee that to ensure the integrity of the tournament the Mumbai Indians will be permitted to select up to five overseas players in any one team, provided those players were contracted to play in the 2011 IPL,” the CLT20 technical committee stated.
Mumbai Indians, led by Harbhajan Singh, thus, became the first IPL team to play five overseas players in all matches in the Champions League in 2011.
In their first game of the tournament, Mumbai played Chennai Super Kings and named Davy Jacobs, Aiden Blizzard, Andrew Symonds, Kieron Pollard along with Lasith Malinga in their XI. They later took on Trinidad and Tobago, Cape Cobras, and New South Wales in the league stages before advancing to the semi-final, where they defeated Somerset by 10 runs.
The franchise was greatly benefitted from this decision of the technical committee as Mumbai Indians eventually went on to win the title, defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final.
