CSK stalwart was once banned from IPL for 'blackmailing franchises', tried to procure trade deal himself with MI

Do you remember this tale of an Indian legend being banned from the IPL for one season after he tried to procure a trade deal himself with the Mumbai Indians.

Ravindra Jadeja is currently the toast of the town after a rumoured switch to Rajasthan Royals from the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 edition. According to several reports, the CSK and RR management are set to proceed with the trade deal between Jadeja and Sanju Samson, which will see the latter joining the five-time champions' squad, while the former will return to the franchise where he began his IPL career.

Here's a bit of daily trivia for you. (AFP)

If the trade deal is finalised and all negotiations are completed, it will likely become one of the biggest talking points in the IPL. Considering Jadeja is dominating the entire discourse on social media, are you aware of the time when he was banned for one season of the tournament?

Yes, you read that right. The 36-year-old, who represented the Rajasthan Royals in the 2008 and 2009 editions of the IPL, was banned from the 2010 season after he left his franchise in the dark and tried to procure a trade deal himself with another team, reportedly the Mumbai Indians.

At that time, Jadeja, who had just played 19 ODIs and five T20Is for India, was out of contract, as the deadline for the final squads had passed. Lalit Modi, the then commissioner of the IPL, had confirmed that Jadeja was penalised for allegedly trying to negotiate terms with another franchise.

"The IPL governing council has arrived at this decision after due deliberations done after taking into account Ravindra Jadeja's representation to the president of the BCCI and a further representation by the Rajasthan Royals," Modi had said in a statement.

“The player guidelines laid out by the governing council of the IPL are sacrosanct, and all players will need to strictly adhere to the same. We will not tolerate any player playing games or blackmailing any teams or the IPL/BCCI in any manner,” he added.

Before the inaugural season of the IPL, Jadeja was picked up by the Rajasthan Royals for USD 30,000. He was one of the key performers in the Royals' victory in the first edition of the cash-rich league.

Jadeja's IPL career

Jadeja has played 254 IPL matches, the fifth-most in the tournament behind MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik. He has scored 3260 runs and taken 170 wickets. He has been representing CSK since the 2012 season, except for 2016 and 2017, when the five-time champions were suspended from the competition.

In 2022, Jadeja was also handed over the CSK captaincy as MS Dhoni decided to pass the baton. However, a poor start to the season led to Dhoni coming back as the skipper.

Jadeja played 27 matches for the Royals across the 2008 and 2009 seasons, scoring 530 runs and taking six wickets.