In the 2026 IPL season from 28 March to 31 May, several teams have already had injury concerns. With Royal Challengers Bengaluru as the defending champion, having won the cup in 2025, all ten franchises had completed their squad at the December mini-auction last year. However, with teams having complete squads it's a given that one will look for replacements when there are injuries during the course of the tournament. IPL has a rule, which states that a franchise can buy replacement players even during the tournament, but with conditions to follow. It can replace a player if he is injured before his team has played 12 matches of the tournament. The player would have to undergo a medical test conducted by the medical panel assigned by BCCI. Once they pass the tests, the franchise would be permitted to buy the replacement. Such replacement would be applicable for those players not selected in any franchise earlier and it does not involved trade. Also Read | Ayush Mhatre Out, R Ashwin Suggests CSK Loan Move for RCB Youngster in IPL 2026 IPL Loan System and Deadline Explained IPL has an existing loan system that came into place in 2018. Although this system has been in use in terms of having rules and regulations in place it has been largely unused over the years. Essentially, it means franchises can rent a player from another franchise rather than buy or sign an injury replacement. The rules dictate that a player can only be loaned if he has played a maximum of 2 games in a season and can only be loaned once per season. It also dictates that a loaned out player cannot be made to play against his parent franchise. The loan window closes once the 7th game of a season has taken place which effectively gives franchises the opportunity to use the system in the middle of a season as cover for injuries or loss of form. So far though in 8 seasons that the rule has been in place none have used it with almost every IPL franchise happy with injury replacements and signing an actual player to cover injury. The rules were even adjusted later to allow capped players to be loaned rather than only uncapped ones though. With several injuries affecting various franchises throughout IPL 2026 there is an argument for both replacement and loan system usage, especially with Franchises like Chennai Super Kings being forced to look at both due to the existing situation. With a 7 match replacement deadline and limited use of the loan system, both replacement and loans must be assessed in the smartest possible manner throughout the season.