Players who have sworn allegiance to one IPL franchise for ten years 

Cricket with all its complexities was long seen as a non-inclusive game alien to most of the world. However, the advent of Twenty20 helped cricket bridge gaps, bringing a lot more women and kids to watch the game.

India won the inaugural World T20 in 2007 and the immediate by-product of the win was the launch of the IPL.

A perfect farrago of cricket and entertainment, IPL had every requisite required to rake in huge attendance in stadiums.

The first season saw team owners rake huge sum of money for players purely on their reputation.

However, as the rigors of the tournament wore on and with the competition becoming more intensive, the owners became a lot more watchful and weren't afraid to overlook marquee names purely on their popularity.

The aforementioned change in the mindset is epitomised by the fact that in the 10 years of the IPL, only three players have been able to sworn allegiance to one franchise.

Here's a look at the players who have sworn allegiance to a single franchise for in the IPL.

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#3 Harbhajan Singh (Mumbai Indians)

Harbhajan will play for CSK in the new season

Career Stats: Matches: 136 Innings: 134 Wickets: 127 Avg: 26.65 Eco: 6.96 5W: 1 BBI: 5/18

The veteran Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been a pivotal component in the Mumbai Indians set-up ever since he was picked up by the franchise in 2008.

He captained the team for the initial part of the inaugural season in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar.

Nevertheless, his finest hour as a captain came in 2011 when he led the Mumbai Indians to a Champions League title win.

The off-spinner who has scalped 127 wickets in 136 games at an economy of 6.96, played a pivotal part in the 2013 and 2015 IPL winning team.

However, due to dip in form and emergence of youngsters like Krunal Pandya, Bhajji spent most of the previous season on the bench.

His association with the franchise eventually ended when Mumbai Indians decided against retaining him during the 2018 auctions. Harbhajan has racked up by the Chennai Super Kings and he would be playing under MS Dhoni, again.

#2 Shaun Marsh (Kings XI Punjab)

Shaun Marsh while plying his skills in the IPL

Career Stats: Matches: 71 Innings: 69 Runs: 2477 Avg: 39.95 50s/100s: 20/1 S/R: 132.74

Shaun Marsh, the left-handed Western Australian batsman remains one of the most enigmatic Australian batsmen of the modern era.

A perfect farrago of outrageous talent and inexplicable inconsistency, Marsh's career has flattered to deceive.

A relatively unknown commodity then, the Australian instantly showed a glimpse of his supreme talent in the inaugural edition of the IPL.

The left-hander ended up as the highest run-getter in season one, accumulating 616 runs at a staggering average of 68.44.

Marsh's disappointing returns at the international level did not deter his performance in the IPL as consistency performances over a period of time saw him become the mainstay of the Kings XI Punjab batting line-up.

Marsh scored in excess of 300 runs for three consecutive years from 2011 to 2013.

Year. Runs

2011 504

2012 368

2013 300

In 71 IPL games, Marsh accumulated 2477 runs at a respectable average of 39.95, however, his indifferent form in the past two seasons saw him go unsold in the 2018 auctions.

#1 Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

Career Stats: Matches: 149 Innings: 142 Runs: 4418 Avg: 37.44 50s/100s: 30/4 S/R: 129.83

From a brash young teenager fresh from leading the U-19 team to World Cup glory to a run-making machine, Royal Challengers Banglore has been the axis around which the fulcrum of Virat Kohli's transformation has revolved.

After a couple of indifferent seasons in which he scored 165 and 246 respectively, Kohli came into his own as he crossed the 300-run barrier for the first time (307 runs) in the 2010 edition of the IPL.

He was the sole player to be retained by the franchise in the 2011 auctions and Kohli responded with 557 runs in the season and was soon fast-tracked to the captaincy post after Daniel Vettori retired.

However, Kohli's finest hour during his IPL career arrived in the 2016 edition where he racked up 973 runs glittered with four awe-inspiring hundreds.

Kohli's blitz with the bat wasn't enough though as RCB went on to lose the finals, their third in as many appearances (2009, 2011 previously).

Kohli has accumulated 4418 runs at an average of 37.22 in his IPL career and the skipper would like to reverse the fortunes of the team especially after a lacklustre season in the last edition.