5 players whose IPL careers blossomed after leaving the Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians are one of the most successful franchises in the history of Indian Premier League, having won the title thrice - 2013, 2015 and 2017. 'Hitman' Rohit Sharma's elevation as their skipper midway through the 2013 IPL proved to be the decisive factor in Mumbai's rise as an IPL powerhouse.
Rohit took over the captaincy from one of the best skippers the game has ever seen - Ricky Ponting and transformed the side's fortunes by leading them to their first ever IPL title during the sixth edition of the league. Mumbai claimed their second IPL crown in 2015 and their third two years later during the tenth edition of the IPL.
Thereby, Rohit Sharma became the first ever skipper to win three IPL titles. Several leading international stars have donned the Blue jersey over the years - the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Ricky Ponting and Shaun Pollock to name a few.
The team has given the Indian cricket team so many young and exciting talents over the years. Players like Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya have made it to the highest level after some impressive performances in the Mumbai Indians colours during the initial days of their IPL careers.
Let us now look at five players whose IPL careers blossomed after leaving the Mumbai Indians:
#5 Axar Patel
Axar began his IPL stint with the Mumbai Indians in 2013. Though his team won the title in that edition of the IPL, the slow left-arm orthodox bowler did not get an opportunity to don the Blue jersey throughout the season.
After being released by the Mumbai Indians ahead of the 2014 IPL auction, he was bought by the Kings XI Punjab for INR 75 lakhs for the seventh edition of the league. Akshar surprised everyone with a splendid display of spin-bowling scalping 17 wickets in 17 matches at an economy of just 6.13.
His side reached the IPL finals for the very first time but unfortunately lost to the Kolkata Knight Riders. Nevertheless, he was adjudged the Emerging Player of that season for his contributions with both the bat and ball.
Two weeks later, he made his ODI debut against Bangladesh and was the only player to be retained by Punjab ahead of last year's auction. He has 61 wickets and 686 runs to his name in the IPL career, so far.
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