IPL 2018: Five Players who Returned to their First IPL Team

The highly anticipated mega-auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL) finally took place over this weekend. With each of the franchises looking to start over with a clean slate for the next few editions, ardent fans of the league were eagerly waiting for the rosters to fill up for the eight teams.

While players like Ben Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat, KL Rahul and Manish Pandey had a field day at the office, the event, interestingly, also saw few key players returning to their respective franchises where they started off their careers in the IPL. Let us look at some of them.

1. Yuvraj Singh (Kings XI Punjab)

During the first three editions of the tournament, Preity Zinta’s Kings XI Punjab side revolved around the Punjab powerhouse, Yuvraj Singh. The franchise also made it through to the knockout stages under the captaincy of the elegant southpaw.

However, KXIP decided to release the India international, as he landed up lucrative deals from Pune Warriors India, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the further editions, while the Mohali-based franchise, more often than not, languished at the bottom half of the table.

This time around, Sehwag looked to rectify the management’s mistake and bought Yuvraj at a base price of 2 crores. It would be interesting to see how the Punjabi lad would respond to his homecoming in the next edition of the tournament.

2. Gautam Gambhir (Delhi Daredevils)

From one out of favour India international to another, Gautam Gambhir too comes back to his original team, Delhi Daredevils, where he played his first three seasons of his IPL career. DD has had an impressive reputation for attaining quality players and releasing them subsequently.

With Zaheer Khan out of competitive cricket, the onus was now on the Daredevils to find a suitable captain. Also, GG’s distinguished tenure as the captain of the Knight Riders was coming to an end.

It was revealed that Gambhir requested the KKR think tank to release him to find a newer challenge. It didn’t take him long to express his joy, as he took to Twitter saying “I AM BACK”.

3. Murali Vijay (Chennai Super Kings)

The Tamil Nadu and India Test opener, Murali Vijay, played some of his best cricket while donning the yellow jersey of the Chennai Super Kings before parting ways to represent Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab in the further editions.

Again, Vijay would play in front of his home crowd at the Chepauk with the CSK badge on his cap, as Fleming acquired the services of the elegant right-hander at the fag end of the auction for his base price of INR 2 crores.

Vijay also played one of the most memorable knocks in franchise cricket during the 2010 edition against Rajasthan Royals where he smashed 127 off just 56 balls at the Chepauk Stadium for the CSK.

4. JP Duminy (Mumbai Indians)

The next on the list is Protean Jean-Paul Duminy who was first acquired by the Ambanis for the Mumbai Indians during the 2009 auction. The event was held, interestingly in his native country in South Africa.

However, his association with the franchise remained brief, as he went on to represent Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad later.

Yet, again, Duminy has the opportunity to represent the men in blue and three-time champions as he was bought at his base price of INR 1 crore.

5. Glenn Maxwell (Delhi Daredevils)

After a successful stint at the KXIP campaign, Glenn Maxwell will now represent the Delhi Daredevils, as Ricky Ponting and co. went all out for the services of the swashbuckling middle-order batsman.

During the auction of 2012, it was the Delhi franchise which foresaw the spark in the Victorian and bagged the all-rounder. However, Maxi found it tough to make the cut into the playing XI due to the presence of Warner, Taylor, Pietersen and Jayawardene.

He later went on to represent Mumbai Indians before donning the red and white of KXIP. The Delhi think tank went on to shell out a whopping INR 9 crores for the Melbourne Stars batsman, thereby, returning to the franchises where he started off his IPL careers.