5 Players in IPL 2018 who will have played for maximum number of IPL teams

The IPL is less than a month away and fans can't wait for the action to begin.

Teams have tried to build a strong squad by buying players, keeping in mind various factors like the budget, player utility and conditions in which they will play maximum matches.

While a few players will be playing for the same team they played for last year as they were retained by their current teams, most of the players will be playing for new teams after the auction.

This has been a common practice in the IPL over the years. Most of the players have to represent a new team every year.

Thus, they end up playing for a lot of teams. We will look at five such players from this year's IPL, who will be playing for maximum number of IPL teams when they take the field in this season.

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#5 Yuvraj Singh

Number of teams - 5

Teams - Kings XI Punjab, Pune Warriors India, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils, Sunrisers Hyderabad

Yuvraj Singh is arguably India's best T20 player of all time.

However, he has never been able to repeat the same performance while playing for various franchises in the IPL.

He started his IPL career playing for Kings XI Punjab in 2008. Even after having three decent seasons with them, he wasn't retained by the franchise in 2011.

After a stellar 2011 World Cup, Yuvraj was bought by the newly formed Pune Warriors India. He played for the franchise in its debut season, but he was unavailable for the entire 2013 season as he was going through a cancer diagnosis.

He made a comeback to the side next year, though unable to create much impact.

In subsequent years Yuvraj was bought by several franchises like Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2014, Delhi Daredevils in 2015 and Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016.

He was always one of the most highly priced cricketers in the auction. Though Yuvraj contributed to Sunrisers' title victory in 2016, the side did not retain him for this season.

Life came full circle for the Punjab Southpaw as the Kings XI Punjab bought him and he will be playing for the team he once captained.

Kings XI Punjab will be hoping that it is a happy homecoming for one of Punjab's favourite sons.

#4 Jaydev Unadkat

Unadkat was sensational for Rising Pune Supergiant last season

Number of teams - 5

Teams - Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils, Rising Pune Supergiant, Rajasthan Royals

Jaydev Unadkat was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders in 2010. The then Knight Riders' bowling coach Wasim Akram was highly impressed by Unadkat and he was tipped to be the next big thing in Indian cricket.

After some fascinating performances, Unadkat lost his way and wasn't retained by the side in 2013.

He played the next season for Royal Challengers Bangalore under current Indian Captain Virat Kohli.

In 2014 Delhi Daredevils got him in the side but released him ahead of the 2016 season. Kolkata Knight Riders again showed faith in Unadkat's abilities and bought him in the 2016 auction only to release him after just one season.

Unadkat's breakthrough season came playing for Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017.

He helped the Pune based franchise reach the finals and got his name in the reckoning for selection in the national side.

The Saurashtra bowler eventually made a successful comeback in the Indian T20 side. In the 2018 auction, he became the most expensive Indian player, bought by Rajasthan Royals for 11.5 crores.

Unadkat will want to have a longer association with Rajasthan Royals than he had with his previous teams.

#3 Parthiv Patel

Parthiv played for RCB in 2015

Number of teams - 6

Teams - Chennai Superkings, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians

Parthiv Patel started his IPL career at Chennai Superkings as an understudy to MS Dhoni. Even though MS Dhoni was in the side, Parthiv played in the playing XI as a specialist batsman.

He then played for Kochi Tuskers Kerala in 2011. Parthiv was bought by Deccan Chargers in 2012. Unfortunately, the team was terminated by BCCI in 2012 and Sunrisers Hyderabad replaced them in the league.

The stylish left-hand batsman played the 2013 season for the Sunrisers, while he was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2014.

He did not have much success with RCB and was released in 2015. Mumbai Indians bought him in 2015, the franchise that he played for the next three years.

Opening the innings for Mumbai Indians, he played some splendid innings and became a regular in the side.

In 2018 auction, Parthiv was bought by RCB and it will be interesting to see how he performs for his old franchise.

#2 Dinesh Karthik

Karthik will lead KKR in this year's IPL

Number of teams - 6

Teams - Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Gujarat Lions, Kolkata Knight Riders

Dinesh Karthik has had a peculiar IPL career so far.

Karthik has been one of the leading batsmen in the domestic circuit over the years, owing to which he has always fetched big bucks in the auctions.

But due to one reason or the other, he hasn't been able to play for an IPL team consistently. Karthik started his IPL career playing for Delhi Daredevils in the year 2008.

He remained with the franchise till 2010, after which he played for Kings XI Punjab in 2012. He had a disappointing season with the Kings and was released by them.

Karthik's best IPL season came while playing for Mumbai Indians in 2013. He made 510 runs in the season and finished as the seventh highest run-getter of the tournament.

In 2015, Karthik wasn't retained by Mumbai Indians and was bought by RCB for a whopping 10.50 crores. But unfortunately, Karthik wasn't able to convert the big bucks into big runs and was released by the franchise ahead of the 2016 auction.

Karthik had two fruitful seasons playing for Gujarat Lions in the last two years. In this year's auction he was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for 7.60 crores.

Earlier this month, he was also named the captain of the side. Karthik has a brilliant chance to silence all his critics by putting up a strong show for the Knight Riders this season.

#1 Aaron Finch

Finch captained Pune Warriors India in a few matches

Number of teams - 7

Teams - Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Daredevils, Pune Warriors India, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Lions, Kings XI Punjab

Aaron Finch, the dashing Australian batsman, has the unique distinction of playing for the maximum number of IPL teams.

Finch was picked up by Rajasthan Royals even before he made his debut for Australia. He then played two seasons for Delhi Daredevils from 2011 to 2012.

In the 2013 auction, he was bought by Pune Warriors India, a franchise that withdrew from the IPL in the same year.

Finch played the 2014 season for Sunrisers Hyderabad, but he was forced to play in the middle-order due to the presence of Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner in the team. He then played a season for Mumbai Indians in 2015.

In the 2016 auction, Finch was bought by Gujarat Lions and has had a decent run for the franchise in the last two seasons.

He was bought by the Kings XI Punjab in this year's auction. Finch will look to have a longer run at the top of the order, as one of the reasons for his below-par performance in the IPL has been the position in which he has batted.

He bats in the top-order for Australia but has often been asked to bat in the middle-order by teams in the IPL.

It will be interesting to see how Kings XI Punjab management accommodates Finch in the top-order as they also have other openers like Chris Gayle, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal at their disposal.