The next edition of the cherished Twenty20 Indian Premier League (IPL) is around the corner. And with the trading window closed and IPL 2020 auction done and dusted, the franchises have already blown the horn for the competition. The tradings bought some shocking news as the franchises traded off supposedly their key players, too.
Where Rajasthan Royals (RR) traded off Ajinkya Rahane, the Indian spin-magician Ravichandran Ashwin was traded off by Kings XI Punjab (KXIP). However, things were much different at the IPL 2020 Auctions held in Kolkata, last year. From the 62 players sold at the auction, the franchises mostly picked the Indian domestic cricketers at the auction, this time around.
The bidding took off with surprised Mumbai Indians (MI) availing Australian cricketer Chris Lynn for the base price of 2 Crores. Meanwhile, Lynn’s fellow Aussie cricketer Pat Cummins became the most expensive but of the event. The pacer was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for a whopping amount of 15.50 Crores.
The uncapped Indian youngster, Yashasvi Jaiswal was roped in by the Royals, who already bought most of the young budding Indian talents.
However, the Australian veteran opener and hard-hitting batsman, Aaron Finch returned to the game and was taken in by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Finch is among the cricketers who have played for most franchises in IPL.
Meanwhile, Yousuf Pathan and Manoj Tiwary were among the big names that went unsold this season.
Here is the list of the top five players who have played for most franchises in the IPL history:
Five players who played for most franchises in IPL:
Yuvraj Singh (KXIP, PWI, RCB, DD, SRH, MI):
The iconic player of the shorter version of cricket has led the IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab in first two seasons of the league. However, there was a noticeable dip in the second season of the cash-rich tournament. This led to the management to hand the captaincy to the Sri Lankan wicket-keeper Kumara Sangakkara.
And then a week later his influential part in the World Cup 2011, Yuvraj was leading Pune Warriors in the third edition of the IPL. The player missed the IPL 2012 as he was suffering from lung cancer and then when he turned to show up in 2013, he couldn’t perform up to his level. In the following season, Yuvraj was recorded as the most expensive player picked named by the RCB.
In the 2015 auction, he was bought by Delhi Daredevils after which he was traded off to Sunrisers Hyderabad for the next two seasons. In the 2018 IPL season, Yuvraj returned to Kings XI Punjab but yet again owing to his poor show in the game he was swapped with Mumbai Indians for the IPL 2019.
It was the sixth IPL franchise that Yuvraj played for before he announced his retirement from all formats of the game.