5 legends who were released by their home franchises in IPL

The Indian Premier League (IPL) marked its beginning after India won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007. BCCI decided to capitalize on the interest generated in T20 cricket as they launched an eight-city franchise-based tournament with the teams being Mumbai Indians (Mumbai), Chennai Super Kings (Chennai), Rajasthan Royals (Jaipur), Kings XI Punjab (Mohali), Royal Challengers Bangalore (Bangalore), Kolkata Knight Riders (Kolkata), Deccan Chargers (Hyderabad) and Delhi Daredevils (Delhi).

In 2008, each team was given a chance to pick an icon player and a majority of the teams picked their home state’s stars. Mumbai Indians went for Sachin Tendulkar while Royal Challengers Bangalore picked Anil Kumble. Likewise, all the teams decided to pick their state-based players so that they could easily market their franchise.

Unfortunately, because of the competitive nature of IPL, many home stars were later released by their franchises because of their below-par performances in IPL.

Here’s a look at the top 5 legends who were released by their home franchises in IPL:

1. Virender Sehwag – Delhi Daredevils 

The explosive opening batsman from the northern part of the country, Virender Sehwag was picked as the marquee player of Delhi Daredevils in 2008. He was the star performer of the team in 2008 as he led them to the semifinals with 406 runs 14 matches. He maintained his consistency till 2012 however, he failed miserably in 2013.

Opening the innings for Delhi in 13 matches, Sehwag could score only 295 runs at a disappointing average of 24.58. 95 of those runs came in just one match which means that Sehwag scored only 200 runs in the other 12 games.

Since he had a mega-contract from the franchise, the Daredevils did away with him soon. Kings XI Punjab roped him in next year and he returned to form with 455 runs in 17 matches. His career ended in the year 2015.