The Indian Premier League (IPL) is nothing short of a stage where stars are born every year, catapulted into the oblivion of success from literally nothing. However, everyone is not like a Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Lasith Malinga or Rohit Sharma, who have been stars ever since they donned on shirts of their respective franchises. For some players, stardom arrived late as they did not enjoy great first stints in the cash rich league. Here are five IPL stars who were not so successful with their first franchise.
#5 Yuzvendra Chahal – Mumbai Indians (Now plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore)
Anyone who remembers watching IPL closely will be able to recall that Yuzvendra Chahal was the thin guy who used to sit next to Sachin Tendulkar in the Mumbai Indians dugout quite often. However, his action at Mumbai Indians mostly remained supportive and confined to the bench as he appeared in only one game for the franchise from 2011 to 2013. Though Chahal was a star in the 2011 Champions League T20 final, helping Mumbai to win the title, he did not pick a single wicket for them in the IPL.
He was signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2014 and his stock has risen since. Chahal has picked over 45 wickets for RCB in three seasons (with the 2016 edition still going on) at an economy rate of around 7.8 runs per over, becoming Virat Kohli’s go to man on a number of occasions. The pocket-sized dynamo was particularly exceptional in the 2015 season, taking 23 wickets in 12 matches.
#4 Manish Pandey – Mumbai Indians (Now plays for Kolkata Knight Riders)
Pandey managed to make only three appearances for Mumbai Indians, scoring just 3 runs in those games. To say the least, Pandey's departure from the Mumbai Indians was for his own good. After playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore 2009 to 2010 and Pune Warriors India from 2011 to 2013, he moved to Kolkata Knight Riders in 2014. He has managed to play 83 games since leaving Mumbai and has scored 1731 runs at a decent average of 25.88.
#3 Glenn Maxwell – Delhi Daredevils (Now plays for Kings XI Punjab)
The Big Show’s name came to the fore when he was acquired by the Mumbai Indians for $1 million at the 2013 auction. Though he did not do much for Mumbai Indians before joining Kings XI Punjab in 2014, Maxwell was also a part of the Delhi Daredevils in the 2012 season. The hard-hitting batsman, who shot to limelight by scoring a fifty in just 19 balls in Australian domestic cricket in 2011, made only two appearances for the “Double Ds” in the 2012 season, managing to score six runs and pick one wicket.
Maxwell is best known in the IPL for his performance in the remarkable 2014 season, when he scored 552 runs from 16 matches at an incredible strike rate of 187.75, hitting 48 boundaries and 36 sixes with a highest score of 95. Unfortunately for Maxwell, Kings XI Punjab lost the final to a dominant Kolkata Knight Riders and were unable to win their maiden IPL trophy.
#2 Ajinkya Rahane – Mumbai Indians (Now plays for Rising Pune Super Giants)
A player of Ajinkya Rahane’s calibre took far too long to announce himself in India’s domestic T20 extravaganza. Rahane was drafted by his domestic side Mumbai Indians in 2008 and the batsman represented the Blues for three seasons. However, Rahane was not his solid, stroke-playing and elegant self during his time at Mumbai. The right-handed batter played 10 matchs for Mumbai Indians in which he scored just 148 runs.
From the Mumbai Indians, Rahane moved to the Rajasthan Royals, where he was promoted to the top of the order by Rahul Dravid and the rest as they say, is history. Since leaving Mumbai Indians, the batsman has notched up 2466 runs in 83 matches with 21 fifties and one hundred.
#1 Chris Gayle – Kolkata Knight Riders (Now plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore)
To say that Chris Gayle was unsuccessful in a T20 tournament borders on blasphemy but if you look at the difference between his performances for Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore, a strong case can be made. During the two seasons he was with KKR, Gayle was a shadow of the player he became at RCB and managed to score a little over 450 runs in 16 matches.
Quite unbelievably, Gayle went unsold at the 2011 IPL auction but was picked up by RCB later on as a replacement for Dirk Nannes and it turned out to be the second best decision they ever made (first being the signing of Virat Kohli). In his first season with the Royal Challengers, Gayle smashed 608 runs from 12 matches at a strike rate of more than 180 with two hundreds and three fifties.
The Gayle juggernaut has rolled on ever since and the Jamaican has become one of the top run getters in IPL history, scoring more than 700 runs in two editions.
