The Indian Premier League is one of the best T20 leagues worldwide. Big cricket stars like Shane Warne, Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, and Brett Lee have played in it. When it started, some Indian players joined teams from their hometowns, but others couldn’t.
Now, after 16 seasons, there are famous cricketers who still haven’t played for their hometown teams in all these years.
We’ve picked out the top five of these players who might never get the chance to play for their home franchise
5. Dinesh Karthik
Dinesh Karthik has played for many different teams in the IPL, but he hasn’t played for Chennai Super Kings yet. Even though he’s from Tamil Nadu, he never got to play for Chennai because MS Dhoni, who’s been the keeper and captain for a long time, was already there. Karthik has played 242 games in 16 years and scored over 4,500 runs. He’s played for six teams, like Mumbai, Punjab, and Delhi. Right now, he’s playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore, and it seems like this might be his last season, so he won’t get to play for Chennai Super Kings.
4. Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh, a famous cricketer from Punjab, was a big part of the IPL. However, he never got to play for his own home team, the Punjab Kings.
He played more than 160 IPL matches and took 150 wickets while being part of three different teams.
He started with the Mumbai Indians in the first season, playing alongside Sachin Tendulkar. Later, he moved to the Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders. But surprisingly, he never played for his own home team, the Punjab Kings.
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3. Shubman Gill
Shubman Gill, who plays cricket for the Gujarat Titans and the Indian team, was born and grew up in Punjab. It’s too early to say if he’ll always play for his home team, but because he’s so good, it’s unlikely any team would let him go.
Gill started playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2018 with the Kolkata Knight Riders, where he batted in the middle of the order.
In the big auction of 2022, he was chosen by the Gujarat Titans and will now be their captain in the next IPL season. In the 2023 season, he did really well, scoring almost 900 runs in just 17 games.
2. Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah is a big name in Indian cricket. He’s really good at bowling and gives a hard time to the best batsmen in the world. He started playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2013 and has always played for the same team, Mumbai Indians.
Playing in the IPL helped him a lot and got him into the Indian national team. He’s from Gujarat but plays for Mumbai Indians. It would be surprising if Mumbai Indians ever let him go.
In the 120 matches he’s played, he’s taken 145 wickets and has been a big reason for Mumbai Indians’ success.
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1. Virat Kohli
If you talk about the best player ever in the Indian Premier League (IPL), it’s definitely Virat Kohli. He’s scored the most runs in the tournament, over 7,200! No one else has hit that many runs.
Virat grew up in Delhi but he only plays IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). He feels like RCB is his second home. Virat says he can’t even think about playing for another team in the IPL. He loves RCB and the fans too much to leave.
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