IPL 2018: 5 players whose fortunes changed after changing teams
The Indian Premier League 2018 auction is destined to be a massive one, in terms of both money spent and consequences. A maximum of 24 players can be retained (three players per team) before the auction, which means that most players will be featuring in the auction.
Naturally, this means that a lot of players are destined to play for a different franchisee to the one they featured for in the previous seasons. Though a player may want to continue with the same franchisee, it doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing to play in a different jersey.
There have been a handful of players who seemed mediocre for one franchisee and then have uncharacteristically excelled for another. The IPL auction can completely turn the tide for a player. This could be because of a change in atmosphere or a change in team dynamics or a variety of other reasons.
Let's take a look at some players who've managed to exceed expectations after changing sides.
#5 Dwayne Bravo
Dwayne Bravo featured for the Mumbai Indians for the first three seasons of the IPL. Though he was definitely an good player for the team from the west coast, he was just not as iconic as he was with the team from the east coast, the Chennai Super Kings.
The "champion" from Trinidad had an impressive debut season for the team from Mumbai, bagging 11 wickets and notching a handy 154 runs in just 9 games. His second season was again a good all-round one as he added another 11 wickets to his tally, coupled with 218 runs in a total of 11 games. He put in some handy match-winning performances - sometimes with the ball, sometimes with the bat and sometimes with both. Surprisingly, he had a disastrous third season where he featured in 10 games but managed to bag a paltry 4 wickets. With the bat he could manage just 61 runs at a lowly average of 8.71.
His catastrophic performance in the 2010 edition saw Bravo sold at a mere $200,000 to the Chennai Super Kings. Over time, this has proven to be one of the biggest steals in IPL history.
He featured in only 6 games in the 2011 season. In the 2012 season he put in a spectacular all-round performance, with 371 runs with the bat and 15 wickets with the ball. After this exemplary performance especially with the bat, DJ Bravo turned up the heat with the ball in the following season of 2013. He bagged 32 wickets, which is, to this day, the highest number of wickets bagged by a bowler in a single season. His bowling at the death, especially his deceptive slow deliveries, became his forte.
After unfortunately featuring in just one game in the 2014 season thanks to a shoulder injury, the "champion" returned in 2015 to pick up from where he'd left off. He put in another terrific performance with the ball to bag 26 scalps, giving him his second purple cap award in three years. To add cherry to the cake, he nabbed a useful 195 runs.
CSK were then banned for two years, and Dwayne Bravo moved back to the west to join the Gujarat Lions. He missed one entire season owing to injury and had a mediocre season in the other by his high standards. It'll be interesting to see if CSK opt to retain the West Indian, or put him in to the auction.
If he plays for a new franchisee season, which Dwayne Bravo is going to turn up? Only time can tell.