The 48-year-old leg-spinner made history as the oldest player to be bought in an IPL auction when he was snapped up by KKR at his base price, but it seems Tambe will take no part in the tournament itself.

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“BCCI rules strictly say that an Indian player has to be exclusively playing in the IPL or he has to stay away from the cash-rich league and participate in other leagues across the globe,” a BCCI official told IANS. “To have sent in his name for the T10 draft and now to also be a part of the IPL is clearly against the BCCI protocol. So, he can’t play.”

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Tambe last appeared in the IPL for Gujarat Lions in 2016, and it is unclear, with this rule in place, why Tambe was allowed to enter the IPL auction in the first place with the most recent T10 league having taken place only a month prior. He had played in the 2018 edition of the T10 league, creating history by becoming the first bowler to claim a T10 hat-trick and a T10 five-for, and was signed up by Northern Warriors for the 2019 edition, though he didn’t play any games. That competition took place in November, before the latest IPL auction, and yet Tambe was allowed to participate in the auction even with his barring from the IPL itself already apparently inevitable.

The IPL is set to start on March 29 in Mumbai.