5 players who have never played for their state-based IPL team
Unlike many global sports, the game of cricket predominantly has been a national team game. However, it all begun to change since the start of the 21st century and the success of T20 cricket has played a huge part in it.
One of the biggest attractive features of franchise cricket is diversity, which gives opportunities for fans to see some of the best cricketers in the world more often. IPL started in 2008 with eight franchises based out of some of the top Indian cities.
For the inaugural edition of the tournament, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, and Virender Sehwag were classified as icon players and assigned to the franchises representing their hometowns.
Over the past 11 years, almost every Indian player switched teams, barring a few. Also, only a very few cricketers have never played for their state-based franchises.
Players who have played a minimum of five seasons are considered in this article. Also, only Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Rajasthan and Punjab are taken into account.
On that note, let us take a look at the 5 players who never played for their state-based IPL team.
#5 Ishant Sharma
Ishant Sharma started his IPL career with Kolkata Knight Riders and stayed with the franchise until 2010. He moved to Deccan Chargers in 2011 and then to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Ishant was bought by Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016. The 30-year-old played for Kings XI Punjab in 2017 but went unsold in the 2018 auction.
A hardworking pacer, Ishant is regarded a lot for his exploits in the longer version of the game. He has so far played 76 IPL games and picked up 59 wickets at an economy of 8.17.
Born in Delhi, Ishant never got an opportunity to play for his hometown team, Delhi Daredevils.
Teams Played: Kolkata Knight Riders, Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rising Pune Supergiant, and Kings XI Punjab.