IPL: 5 players to have played for 6 or more different franchises

The IPL (Indian Premier League) is all set for its 13th edition next month, with all eight teams preparing to battle it out in the United Arab Emirates.

Like in any franchise sport, all teams in the IPL also look to build loyal fan bases as that leads to increased brand value of the franchises.

One way of achieving that is to have players who have mass popularity, which in turn helps in attracting a large pool of ardent fans towards the franchise. Thus IPL team owners and managements work hard at identifying such players and are not coy about paying hefty amounts to bring them on board.

Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore), MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings) and Rohit Sharma (Mumbai Indians) are three such players who are now synonymous with their respective IPL teams.

However, there are some players who have not been able to find permanent homes for themselves in the IPL. They move from one team to another after a season or two due to myriad reasons like poor form or injury or due to becoming surplus to a team's requirement.

On that note, we take a look at five such players whose journeys in the IPL have been nothing short of adventurous as they have represented six or more different franchises in the competition.

Five players who have represented six or more different IPL franchises:

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#1: Aaron Finch (Seven IPL franchises)

Aaron Finch holds the record of representing the most number of different IPL franchises.

The ultimate IPL vagabond, Australian skipper Aaron Finch is the only player to have turned out for as many as seven franchises in the competition. The 33-year-old opener will, in fact, be donning his eighth different IPL jersey when he will turn up in RCB colours next month.

It is difficult to believe that someone who holds the world record for the highest individual T20I score has struggled to find a permanent home in the IPL.

The burly right-handed batsman made his IPL debut in 2010 for Rajasthan Royals. But he featured in just one match that season before playing eight matches in the next two editions of the competition for Delhi Daredevils.

Finch led the Pune Warriors in all their 14 games in IPL 2013 before moving to Sunrisers Hyderabad, for whom he played 13 games, the next year. In IPL 2015, the Australian played only three games for eventual champions Mumbai Indians before playing two full IPL seasons with the Gujarat Lions.

In 2018, Finch played ten IPL games for Kings XI Punjab before opting out of the 2019 edition of the competition to prepare for the 50-over World Cup.

Hopefully, he manages to stay for a while at RCB and add more firepower to the franchise's famed batting lineup in IPL 2020.

#2: Dinesh Karthik (Six IPL franchises)

KKR's captain Dinesh Karthik has represented as many as six different IPL teams.

Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has also been a frequent traveller in the IPL. Before being drafted in as the skipper of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of the 2018 edition of the competition, the Tamil Nadu player had turned up for five different IPL franchises.

Karthik, a veteran of 182 matches, began his IPL career with the Delhi Daredevils in 2008, staying with them till 2010 and playing 42 matches for the franchise. He then played the entire 2011 IPL season for Kings XI Punjab before moving to Mumbai Indians for the next two editions of the competition.

The 35-year-old made a return to Delhi Daredevils in IPL 2014 before turning up for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2015. Karthik played the next two IPL editions for Gujarat Lions before arriving at KKR in 2018.

#3: Parthiv Patel (Six IPL franchises)

Parthiv Patel turning up for various IPL franchises over the years

Moving from one India wicketkeeper to another, Parthiv Patel, like Dinesh Karthik, has also represented as many as six different IPL franchises.

Patel, who made his IPL debut for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the inaugural edition of the competition in 2008, played as a specialist batsman for the franchise till 2010.

From 2011 to 2013, the diminutive wicketkeeper played one IPL season apiece for three different teams: Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Deccan Chargers and Sunrisers Hyderabad. In 2014, he opened the batting and also kept wickets for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Patel then spent three consecutive seasons with Mumbai Indians where he won two IPL titles (2015 and 2017) to add to his first won with CSK in 2010. After returning to RCB in 2018, IPL 2020 will be his third-consecutive season in the competition for the franchise.

#4: Ishant Sharma (Six IPL franchises)

Ishant Sharma made headlines when he was picked up by KKR in 2008.

Next up on this list is Indian pacer Ishant Sharma who was bagged by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for a whopping price of Rs 3.8 crore back in 2008, making the then teenager the talk of the town.

However, after three largely unsuccessful seasons with the franchise, Sharma was bought by Deccan Chargers in 2011. After playing a couple of IPL seasons for the Chargers, Sharma did likewise with Sunrisers Hyderabad as well.

With the player turning into a Test specialist for the Indian team by this time, IPL franchises started losing faith in his abilities in the shortest format of the game. Nevertheless, the lanky pacer was picked up by Rising Pune Supergiant for the 2017 edition of the IPL but was released by the franchise after just one season.

Kings XI Punjab then bought Ishant Sharma for IPL 2018 but used him primarily as a replacement bowler that season. 2019 saw the Delhi boy's homecoming as he turned up for the Delhi Capitals.

#5: Thisara Perera (Six IPL franchises)

Thisara Perera last played in the IPL back in 2016.

The final player to feature in this list is Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera who is only the second overseas player to have played for six different IPL franchises over the years.

For someone with an all-round game that suits the T20 format, to have featured in only 37 IPL games across six seasons in the competition is quite astonishing. However, that has happened because Perera has not managed to garner enough confidence of any IPL team to stay for more than one season of the competition.

Between 2010 and 2016, with the exception of 2014, Perera turned up for six different IPL franchises: Chennai Super Kings, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Mumbai Indians, Kings XI Punjab, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rising Pune Supergiants respectively. He has not been a part of the IPL since 2016.