Five IPL Teams Who Are Defunct Now; Find Out Why?

Ever since its first season in 2008, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has gone on to become the most-watched T20 league around the world. There have been 12 editions of the cash-rich league in the past while the thirteenth edition has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The IPL has a huge fan following not just in India, but abroad as well. Due to such a large viewership, various companies in an attempt to buy a franchise in the cash-rich league have come forward. While some are still going strong, others couldn’t last long and the teams are no longer a part of the IPL. Today we will take a look at teams who played in the IPL in the past but had to discontinue participation due to various reasons.

Five IPL teams who are defunct now; Find out Why?

5) Deccan Chargers

Champions of the second edition of the IPL, Deccan Chargers were bought by the Chronicle group, and they played in the cash-rich league for five years. They had a plethora of star players such as Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh and various others.

However, in 2013, the Chargers announced that they will not be a part of the eight teams participating in the IPL after some internal issues with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Despite having a star-studded line-up Deccan Chargers couldn’t qualify for the knockout rounds in IPL 2008. They did win the coveted title next year, but in the following years, the Hyderabad based franchise experienced mixed fortunes until they became defunct in 2013.

4) Kochi Tuskers Kerela

After the immense success of IPL in the first two seasons, the BCCI decided to make a crucial call to increase the number of participating teams to 10 in the year 2011. Of the two new teams introduced subsequently, one franchise was Kochi Tuskers Kerala.

However, the team could play in the cash-rich league for just one year, and in 2012, the BCCI expelled them from playing, since they failed to pay the bank guarantee fee required ahead of the season. Owing to some disputes between the owners of Kochi Tuskers, the franchise was declared defunct later.

All their players were auctioned and only nine teams took part in the IPL 2012. In their only season within the league, the Kochi based franchise could only muster up an eight-place finish in the points table.

3) Pune Warriors India

The other IPL team to be introduced as part of BCCI’s expansion plans was Pune Warriors India. It was owned by the Sahara Group Sports Limited, which was backed by the renowned India brand Sahara. Being a new franchise, with a fresh purse, they bought various big-name players like Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa etc.

Despite this, the Pune based franchise was only a part of the cash-rich league for three years, as they too were expelled by the BCCI after the IPL 2013 season. Financial issues were at the stem of Pune Warriors India being shown the backdoor.

Even in their three-year existence, they couldn’t qualify for the knockout rounds once, having won just 12 of the 46 matches they played in the IPL.

2) Gujarat Lions

Gujarat Lions owned by Keshav Bansal of Intex Technologies got a free entry in the IPL after two of its existing teams Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were banned for two years. Therefore, two new IPL teams were introduced, one of them being the Gujarat Lions.

They took part in the IPL for the first time in 2016 and were in existence for just two years until the end of 2017 season. Although they did not have any differences within the league, the Rajkot based franchise was replaced by returning teams of Chennai and Rajasthan.

In their two seasons of existence, Gujarat Lions had a decent spell results-wise, and they managed to amass a big fan base as well.

1) Rising Pune Supergiant

Apart from Gujarat Lions, the other team to benefit from Chennai and Rajasthan’s ban was Rising Pune Supergiant who came into existence in December 2015. They too were part of the IPL for just two seasons, but in their last season, the Pune based franchise played in the final, eventually losing by just one run.

In their first season in the IPL, Rising Pune Supergiant finished in a disappointing seventh place, under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. Steve Smith took over as the skipper in 2017 and took the team all the way to the final, but it was the Mumbai Indians (MI) who prevailed.

It turned out to be their last match in the IPL as the team was dissolved and normalcy was restored after the return of the Super Kings and the Royals.