Players who have sworn allegiance to one IPL franchise for ten years
Cricket with all its complexities was long seen as a non-inclusive game alien to most of the world. However, the advent of Twenty20 helped cricket bridge gaps, bringing a lot more women and kids to watch the game.
India won the inaugural World T20 in 2007 and the immediate by-product of the win was the launch of the IPL.
A perfect farrago of cricket and entertainment, IPL had every requisite required to rake in huge attendance in stadiums.
The first season saw team owners rake huge sum of money for players purely on their reputation.
However, as the rigors of the tournament wore on and with the competition becoming more intensive, the owners became a lot more watchful and weren't afraid to overlook marquee names purely on their popularity.
The aforementioned change in the mindset is epitomised by the fact that in the 10 years of the IPL, only three players have been able to sworn allegiance to one franchise.
Here's a look at the players who have sworn allegiance to a single franchise for in the IPL.
#3 Harbhajan Singh (Mumbai Indians)
Career Stats: Matches: 136 Innings: 134 Wickets: 127 Avg: 26.65 Eco: 6.96 5W: 1 BBI: 5/18
The veteran Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been a pivotal component in the Mumbai Indians set-up ever since he was picked up by the franchise in 2008.
He captained the team for the initial part of the inaugural season in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar.
Nevertheless, his finest hour as a captain came in 2011 when he led the Mumbai Indians to a Champions League title win.
The off-spinner who has scalped 127 wickets in 136 games at an economy of 6.96, played a pivotal part in the 2013 and 2015 IPL winning team.
However, due to dip in form and emergence of youngsters like Krunal Pandya, Bhajji spent most of the previous season on the bench.
His association with the franchise eventually ended when Mumbai Indians decided against retaining him during the 2018 auctions. Harbhajan has racked up by the Chennai Super Kings and he would be playing under MS Dhoni, again.