IPL 2026: How Rajasthan Royals were allowed to replace injured Ravi Singh with Emanjot Chahal late in the season

Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Saturday announced the signing of Emanjot Singh Chahal as a replacement for the injured Ravi Singh.

Ravi Singh, who played just one match in IPL 2026, was ruled out of the rest of the season due to a hamstring injury. Emanjot Singh Chahal joins Rajasthan Royals for a fee of ₹30 lakh. "Emanjot, a young all-rounder from Patiala, has represented Punjab in domestic cricket. Along with a top-score of 83 in first-class cricket, the left-arm spinner has scalped eleven first-class wickets in three matches," an IPL official statement said.

However, the timing of Emanjot's signing is unusual as his signing comes very late in the season. Rajasthan Royals, who will play their last league match against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Sunday, were still allowed to sign a replacement for Ravi Singh. Why is that? We take a look at the reason here.

During that season, the BCCI announced a change to the player replacement rule—Teams could name injury replacements on or before the 12th match of the season.

Previously, the cut-off for naming injury replacements was the seventh match.

Ravi Singh's hamstring injury took place before Rajasthan Royals' 12th match of the season. According to BCCI's rule, a franchise is only barred from announcing player replacements if the injury to a player happens only after the 12th match. In this case, Ravi Singh sustained the injury before the 12th match.

This allowed RR to use the extra administrative window to complete the paperwork for the signing of Emanjot Chahal, and the former champions officially made the announcement just before their final league stage match against Mumbai Indians.

Emanjot Chahal was part of the Registered Available Player Pool (RAPP) which meant that RR was able to sign him. For the unversed, the player that replaces the injured player must be part of the RAPP list.

Should the Riyan Parag-led side lose to Mumbai Indians, then they will be knocked out of the tournament. Punjab Kings (PBKS) returned to winning ways on Saturday after they defeated Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to keep their playoff hopes alive.

They now have 15 points from 14 matches, and Kolkata Knight Riders (Sixth place, 13 points from 13 matches) are also in the race for the playoffs.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Gujarat Titans (GT) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have all qualified for the playoffs so far.