IPL History: 3 stars who returned to an IPL franchise after a gap of 4 years or more
The Indian Premier League has been the marquee T20 league in the world ever since the BCCI initiated it in the year 2008.
In the earlier seasons, the eight city-based franchises focused a lot on getting international stars into their squads. However, as the league progressed, the franchises learnt that it is important to have talented youngsters in the team too. So a lot of them bid adieu to their star players under the IPL retention policy.
The teams always try to get the best possible squad within the budget constraints. Thus, we see a lot of changes and trades taking place every year in the pre-season period.
While some teams sever ties permanently with their stars, there have also been a few franchises who bought their ex-players back after a huge gap of 5 years or more.
Here's a list of those stars who returned to their ex-franchises after spending 5 or more years away:
#3 Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir started off his IPL journey as a part of the Delhi franchise in 2008. He spent three seasons there before he moved to the Kolkata Knight Riders.
The hot-headed Gambhir had a very successful stint as the captain of Kolkata as he helped them win the IPL title twice during his reign. In 2018 however, he decided to end his association with the Knight Riders and return to Delhi once again to play his final season.
While Gambhir may have expected his story to end as a fairytale, what happened was a complete disaster. After Delhi failed to make any kind of impact in the early part of the 2018 season, Gambhir himself stepped down from captaincy mid-season and was soon released by the franchise.
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