5 institutions who may not remain with their teams in IPL 2018

#5 Yusuf Pathan

Yusuf Pathan will be looking to recreate some magic from his Rajasthan Royals days

Yusuf Pathan, older brother of the then-popular Irfan Pathan, made his debut in the T20 world cup final against Pakistan in 2007. His short cameo with the bat as opener gave India the positive start that they needed. In the following year, Yusuf played the inaugural season of the IPL with the heavily underrated Rajasthan Royals.

Deccan Chargers were the favourites to win with explosive players like Shahid Afridi, Andrew Symonds and Herschelle Gibbs in their squad. The Rajasthan Royals, who were led by Shane Warne, were the least favourite to take the trophy home. To everyone's awe, Rajasthan Royals lifted the first ever IPL trophy, with inspired performances by relatively unknown players like Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan.

Yusuf smashed 435 runs at a strike rate of 179.01 in the tournament and was man of the match in the finals against the Chennai Super Kings. He was IPL's biggest find in the inaugural season and he used his success in the tournament to leapfrog his way to the Indian cricket team.

His exploits for the Rajasthan Royals saw him bought at a hefty price by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2011 auctions, and he featured for the side regularly as their number 5 batsman. He proved to be a great resource to the Knight Riders, thanks to his explosive cameos with the bat and also his ability to pitch in with the ball at times. Sadly, he has gradually been losing his touch with both bat and ball over the years.

Having rustled up only 143 runs in the 2017 edition in 15 appearances, he is no longer the beast he used to be with the bat. Having bowled only 126 deliveries in the last four editions, the part-time bowler in him is no more. It is very unlikely that the Knight Riders will choose to retain his services.