IPL 2021: 3 overseas players who were part of an IPL team in 2008 and are playing now as well 

The BCCI initiated the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008, a year after the Indian cricket team's historic ICC T20 World Cup triumph in South Africa. Eight franchises based out of different cities of the country participated in the first edition of the IPL.

As the popularity of the tournament increased, the board introduced two more franchises in 2011. However, from 2014 onwards, the league was back to its original 8-team format.

Overseas players have been a special part of the IPL

The best thing about the IPL is that it is the only cricket tournament where the active Indian stars play with the foreign stars. Fans have witnessed many dream combinations like Sachin Tendulkar-Ricky Ponting, VVS Laxman-Adam Gilchrist, Virat Kohli-AB de Villiers, Virender Sehwag-David Warner, Lasith Malinga-Jasprit Bumrah, Brett Lee-Sreesanth in the Indian Premier League.

The BCCI allows a maximum of four overseas cricketers in the playing XI of an IPL team. Cricketers from across the world compete for those four spots. Franchises have had to drop several big names from their teams on various occasions if they fail to perform well.

However, in the last 13 years, there have been three foreign cricketers who have delivered the goods consistently for their franchise. The following three overseas stars featured in the first IPL season and are a part of the on-going edition of the tournament as well.

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1. Chris Gayle

Caribbean all-rounder Chris Gayle was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad in 2008, but he got to make his IPL debut in 2009. The left-handed batsman played seven games in IPL 2009, scoring 171 runs at a strike rate of 119.58.

Gayle improved his numbers in 2010, but KKR released him. He went unsold at IPL Auction 2011. Soon after, the Royal Challengers Bangalore signed him as a replacement for Dirk Nannes. Gayle ended that season as the best batsman, and he has continued to decimate the opposition bowling attacks to date.

In IPL 2021, Gayle is a member of the Punjab Kings team. In the first phase of the competition, he scored 178 runs for the team in eight innings.

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2. Dwayne Bravo

Unlike Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo made his IPL debut in 2008. Bravo played for the Mumbai Indians then. In nine matches, he scored 178 runs and scalped 11 wickets for the Mumbai-based franchise.

Bravo switched to the Chennai Super Kings in 2011 and transformed into a match-winner. Since 2011, CSK has not allowed any other franchise to acquire Bravo's services whenever they have participated in the IPL. When CSK received a temporary suspension, the Caribbean star represented the Gujarat Lions.

In his IPL career so far, Bravo has played 144 matches, aggregating over 1,500 runs and picking up 156 wickets.

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3. AB de Villiers

While Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo missed the IPL tournaments because of injuries, former South African captain AB de Villiers has played at least one match in every season of the IPL. He started his career at the Delhi Daredevils in 2008.

After playing three seasons for the Delhi-based franchise, de Villiers joined the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He has been a game-changer for the Bangalore-based franchise ever since.

The right-handed batsman is one of the few players to have amassed more than 5,000 IPL runs in his career. In IPL 2021's first phase, de Villiers scored 207 runs in six innings for Bangalore at a strike rate of 164.29.