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.

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#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.

#4 David Warner

Warner has led from the front for SRH

David Warner led the Sunrisers Hyderabad by example to the prestigious IPL title in 2016. He scored an outrageous 848 runs that season, which is the second-highest number of runs scored in a single season, second to only Virat Kohli's 973 runs in the same season.

Scoring 848 runs and not winning the orange cap is nothing but bad luck, especially considering that the previous record for most runs in a season was 733, shared by Chris Gayle and Michael Hussey.

However,he won it in 2015 with 562 runs and 2017 with 641 runs and just missed out on the chance to do it three times in a row. David Warner has been an IPL sensation to say the least and is the tournament's fifth-highest ever run-scorer. However, have a look at the number of innings he has played in comparison to the others on the list:

Players with most runs in IPL history

With an average of above 40 and a strike rate of above 140, He has the ability to single-handedly win games for his team. Nobody has hit more half-centuries than his thirty-five. Any all-time IPL batting stats feature Warner in the top five, despite him having played only 114 innings.

Warner has been one of, if not the best batsman in the IPL while representing SRH. Things were not always so smooth sailing for the Australian opener though. Warner played his first five seasons for the Delhi Daredevils. He was still a good batsman, but he wasn't the beast that he has been at the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Let's take a look at his stats:

David Warner's batting stats in the Indian Premier League

Warner featured for the side from the Indian capital from 2009 until 2013. After an average first two seasons, he wasn't retained by the Delhi Daredevils. However, after some good performances for his country, Warner was snapped up at $750,000 by the same franchisee that had decided to let him go. He fared well in the following two seasons for his side, including a memorable knock of 109*. After notching up 410 runs in the 2013 season, many expected Delhi to retain his services.

Surprisingly, Delhi decided to let him go so as to come in to the auctions with a clean slate. Someone's loss is somebody else's gain and Warner was gladly snapped up by the Sunrisers in the 2014 auction. David Warner has given the Delhi Daredevils a lot to regret with his consistent performances over the seasons.

After claiming his second orange cap in IPL 2017, the Sunrisers will in all likeliness retain his services.

#3 Bhuvneshwar Kumar

He can complete a hat-trick of Purple caps in 2018

Much like David Warner's change in fortune after switching to the team from the Deccan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar too had a swing in form after joining the Sunrisers Hyderabad. He represented Royal Challengers Bangalore from 2009 to 2010 (although he didn't feature in a single game for them) and then played for the Pune Warriors from 2011 to 2013.

He managed to bag 24 wickets in 31 appearances for Pune, a decent effort. His best season with Pune was his last one with them in 2013, wherein he picked up 13 scalps in 16 games, at an economy of 6.50. His consistency with the ball is best demonstrated with his figures of 4-0-23-0 (economy of just 5.75) in a game where Chris Gayle annihilated the Pune bowling on his way to 175 runs of a mere 66 balls.

Pune Warriors withdrew from the IPL over financial differences with the BCCI in 2013. This saw the young bowler from Meerut, make his way to the auction. Sunrisers Hyderabad got the winning bid for the swing bowler, and he's been a revelation for them since then. He has bagged an incredible 87 wickets in the last four editions, laying claim to two purple caps in the process.

In his year-by-year IPL stats (below), you can clearly tell the difference that the shift to the Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2014 has made to his bowling.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar's bowling stats in the Indian Premier League

#2 Chris Gayle

Gayle found his feet in the IPL with RCB

Chris Gayle's story has been one of the greatest ones in the Indian Premier League. The big man has always been a majestic hitter of the ball, and was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders for big money in the first-ever IPL auction. After missing the inaugural season, Gayle disappointed in the following two seasons with 171 and 292 runs at strike rates of 119.58 and 158.69 respectively.

Though the 2010 season may not have been too bad, it was well below expectations. As expected, the Knight Riders decided against retaining his services and Gayle was put in to the 2011 auction.

Despite his incredible performances in the IPL, it was still shocking to see the Jamaican not managing to attract a single bid. It looked like Gayle's short-lived IPL career was over, but the world works in mysterious ways. As fate would have it, when Royal Challengers Bangalore's pacer Dirk Nannes picked up an injury, they decided to call upon Gayle as a replacement. This 'replacement' turned out to be the most destructive force in IPL history. It was a story written in the stars!

Which other man could plunder 175 runs in 66 balls? In what was an unbelievable transformation, Gayle went on to win two consecutive orange caps in 2011 and 2012, and finish second highest run-getter in 2013. Ironically, Gayle scored a century on his debut for the Royal Challengers Bangalore against - you guessed it - the Kolkata Knight Riders!

Let's look at one more interesting stat to fully come to terms with how destructive Gayle has been in the IPL. Gayle has plundered 265 sixes in his IPL career. Suresh Raina is second with 173. And Gayle has played only 101 games as opposed to Raina's 161. Yes, you read that right. Let it sink in!

The big man has scored five scintillating centuries and has produced so many more memorable knocks. He has always kept the Chinnaswamy crowd up on their feet. Even though he lost his way in the last two editions of the IPL, he showed why he is the greatest T20 player of all time with an incredible showing at the Bangladesh Premier League.

It looks like Chris Gayle is not done with the IPL just yet! If the Bangalore franchisee chose not to retain him, could a change in fortune again be on the cards for the big man?

#1 Gautam Gambhir

Gambhir will be looking to lead KKR to a third IPL title

Gautam Gambhir started his IPL career with Delhi Daredevils. The consistent run machine delivered as expected in the inaugural season with an impressive 534 runs, second on the list of highest run-scorers to only Shaun Marsh. His following two seasons were below average with 286 and 277 runs respectively.

Delhi Daredevils surprisingly let go off their entire squad for the 2011 auction, looking to start afresh. Though Gautam Gambhir was expected to go for decent money, few would have expected him to be the highest sell at the auction like he was.

Kolkata Knight Riders splurged $2.4 million on Gambhir, and many critics claimed that it was money down the drain. They couldn't have been more wrong. Gambhir has since then not only been Kolkata's most consistent batsman, but has also captained the side to two IPL titles. He has managed to score at least 300 runs in every edition for the Knight Riders and is IPL's fourth-highest run-scorer in history with 4132 runs.

Gambhir is almost certainly going to retained by the Knight Riders who'll be looking to 'Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo' under him for a third time this season. Though a change in franchisee gave him a boost in 2011, he'll be more than happy to stay at Kolkata this year.