Wild card is a common term in sport that is attached to the name of a player or a team who can get into a team or tournament directly, without having to undergo any prior qualification scenarios.
Wild card is not the most common term associated with cricket. This is because its use in the sport was first highlighted in the 2024 International League T20. The International League T20 is played between franchise teams. Before the tournament, franchises have a total purse of $2.5 million, within which they can rope in 22 players. The wild card is a non-mandatory feature, which is introduced after each team has acquired 22 players.
According to the wild card rule of the International League T20, each team can get two more players (wild cards) in addition to the existing 22-member squad. Each team gets an additional 10% ($250,000) of the original purse in order to get these players. If a franchise team has some amount left from the original purse, they can use that amount and the additional 10% amount to get the wild card players.
These wild card players can be bought by a franchise at any stage during the season. Once a wild card players is replaced, they won’t be eligible for further replacement by other players or another wild card player. Tim David was the first wild card signing that was done by the Mumbai Indians Emirates side. In the 9 matches that he played as a wild card, Tim David struck 157 runs at an average of 39.25. Among the players who had played a minimum of 9 matches, he had the fifth-best strike rate (158.59).
