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The Indian Premier League is the most competitive cricket league in the world. The players have to be fully-fit and be at their best always to feature in the playing eleven of any franchise.
Though the franchise owners shell a lot of amount on the players, not all of them get a chance to prove their price tags.
The contrasting perceptions of the management and the captains have made even the costliest buys to sit out for most parts of the tournament in the previous editions.
Let us now look at some of the players who will have to fight for their places in the starting eleven this season.
#3 Karn Sharma (Chennai Super Kings)
The leg-spinner has played for three different franchises so far- Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians.
Sharma has won two titles in his career so far. In 2016, he won the title with Sunrisers Hyderabad and then in 2017 won the title with the Mumbai Indians.
He was bought by the Chennai Super Kings for INR 5 crore in the 2018 auctions and the two-time IPL winner is yet to make his debut for the Chennai Super Kings this season.
In 55 IPL matches, Sharma has scored 316 runs at a strike-rate of 116.60. He has taken 49 wickets at an economy of 7.67, with the best figures being 4/16.
He is yet to don the Yellow jersey this season, has to fight for his place in the CSK's starting eleven, since they have a plenty of spin-bowling options this season- the likes of Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja and Imran Tahir.
His chance of playing for the Super Kings looks highly unlikely in the upcoming games as Chennai seems to have settled well with their spin-options.
#2 Colin de Grandhomme (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
The Zimbabwe-born Kiwi all-rounder has played only one IPL season so far in his career. De Grandhomme played 12 matches for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2017 IPL and had a mediocre season, scoring 126 runs and picking up four wickets.
Prior to this year's auctions, he was released by the Kolkata management only to be bought by the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers for INR 2.2 crore.
His bowling figures of 3/4 during Kolkata's home game against RCB last season caught the attention of the Bangalore franchise.
This match will very well be remembered for RCB's lowest ever IPL total of 49, in which De Grandhomme was one of the chief tormentors.
With quality and experienced all-rounders like Chris Woakes and Corey Anderson in the Royal Challengers squad, he is yet to don the RCB colours this season. And it looks like the competition is heavy for an overseas all-rounder to get into Virat's eleven for the 2018 IPL.
#1 Carlos Brathwaite (Sunrisers Hyderabad)
The current skipper of the defending T20 World cup champions came into the limelight during the finals of the ICC World T20 2016 at Kolkata.
His four consecutive sixes against Ben Stokes in the final over of that high-voltage clash garnered him millions of fans across the globe.
The Barbados-born all-rounder has a rich T20 experience having represented various teams in the Caribbean Premier League, Bangladesh Premier League, Pakistan Super League and the Big Bash League.
Brathwaite played two seasons for the Delhi Daredevils (2016 and 2017), after being bought by them at the season nine auctions.
He had a poor outing with the Delhi outfit playing just 10 matches across two seasons, in which he scored 95 runs and took eight wickets.
Eventually, he was released by Delhi prior to the 2018 auctions where he was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 2 crore.
A hard-hitting all-rounder, Brathwaite did not get a chance in the first three games of the Orange army side which looks settled with the current starting eleven.
With plenty of all-rounders like Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Nabi, Chris Jordan already in their ranks, it will be very hard for Brathwaite to get into the Sunrisers' starting eleven this season.
The 2016 T20 World cup winner who is yet to play a game this season, must fight for his place in the star-studded Hyderabad squad.
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