IPL 2018 auction: Aaron Finch becomes the first player to play for seven different IPL franchises
Australia's Aaron Finch became the first player in IPL history to play for seven different franchises after Kings XI Punjab secured the 31-year-old's services after a frantic bidding war at the 2018 IPL auctions on Saturday.
The in-form batsman started his IPL journey with Rajasthan Royals in the 2010 edition of the IPL where he played only one match before moving to Delhi Daredevils for the next two seasons.
Yet again, Finch found opportunities hard to come by and played just 8 matches over the two editions and was bagged by Pune Warriors India in the 2013 edition where the Australian finally managed to make his mark.
Despite the team's pathetic showing, where they finished second last in the league standings, Finch was phenomenal, scoring 456 runs from 14 matches to emerge as the team's leading run-scorer and was also named skipper of the side towards the latter stages of the campaign.
Following Pune Warriors' withdrawal from the IPL after the 2013 edition, Finch was up for grabs yet again and it was Sunrisers Hyderabad who picked up the Australian at the IPL Player Auction for a whopping sum of 640,000 USD.
Though not as prolific in the 2013 edition, Finch had a decent outing in 2014, scoring 309 runs from 13 matches, including his highest IPL score till date, an undefeated knock of 88 from just 53 balls that helped the side to their first win of the season against Delhi Daredevils.
Finch moved to Mumbai Indians for the 2015 season but his season was cut short by a hamstring injury suffered during his third match of the season against Rajasthan Royals.
Finch was on the move yet again at the 2016 IPL player auctions and it was IPL newcomers Gujarat Lions who picked up the Australian batsman for 150,000 USD.
Scoring 393 runs from 13 matches at an average of 39.30, including 5 half-centuries, Finch was instrumental in helping his side top the IPL standings at the end of the group stages.
In 2017, Finch could not live up to his lofty standards scoring 300 runs from 13 matches and with the Gujarat Lions winding up following the season, Finch has made the move yet again with Kings XI Punjab splashing Rs 6.2 Cr on the Australian.
With the likes of KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Yuvraj Singh and David Miller in their ranks, Finch joins an explosive line-up of batsmen and it will be interesting to see what kind of impact Finch makes at his latest IPL franchise.
Finch's IPL journey so far:
2010 - Rajasthan Royals
2011 - 2012 - Delhi Daredevils
2013 - Pune Warriors India
2014 - Sunrisers Hyderabad
2015 - Mumbai Indians
2016 - 2017 - Gujarat Lions
2018 - Kings XI Punjab