The Indian T20 League attracts the cream of not just the domestic crop but also international stars, all vying to ply their craft in the world’s most lucrative cricket league and make their names even more renowned.
The eight teams competing in the Indian T20 League are also in it for the best returns, and as such, are constantly on the hunt to maintain the sharpest set of tools in their arsenal by paying huge sums of money to hire the services of the best men on offer.
This has seen a player compete for up to eight different teams during his Indian T20 League career. Here, we look at five players to have played for at least six teams in the Indian T20 League.
Aaron Finch (8 teams)
In 2020, Bangalore became the eighth team Aaron Finch has played for in the Indian T20 League. After debuting in the series with Rajasthan back in 2010 where he only played one match, he competed in the next two seasons for Delhi, following which he played for Pune in 2013.
2014 saw the stocky right-handed batsman shift base to Hyderabad for a year and he played for a brief spell for Mumbai in 2015. After that, he settled down at Gujarat for the following two seasons. Then, it was on to Punjab before taking a break in 2019 to prepare for the World Cup.
Dinesh Karthik (6 teams)
Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik was appointed captain of Kolkata since 2018 but before that, he bounced between five teams. Beginning his career with Delhi in the league’s inaugural season, he switched to Punjab in 2011 and then it was on to Mumbai for the next two seasons.
Following a brief return to Delhi for 2014, Karthik signed up with Bangalore for the 2015 season before going over to Gujarat for 2016 and 2017.
Parthiv Patel (6 teams)
Parthiv Patel is yet another wicketkeeper who was part of the inaugural season of the league and whose suitcase logged frequent miles between states, as he played for six different teams.
After making his series debut with Chennai, he stuck with them till the title-winning year of 2010, after which he played for Kerala, Deccan, Hyderabad and Bangalore in each of the four years that followed before settling down at Mumbai for three straight seasons bookended by two titles. Since then, he returned to Bangalore, where he has been at since.
Ishant Sharma (6 teams)
Ishant Sharma made headlines in 2008 when Kolkata forked out a sizable INR 3.8 crore for the lanky pacer. Three unhappy seasons later, however, he went to Deccan for a couple of seasons, followed by two stints at Hyderabad, by the end of which he had made a name for himself in Test cricket and conversely, was losing appeal with the T20 franchises.
Still, Pune picked him up for 2017 but a season later, he was let go and he went to Punjab, where he lay on the bench most of the time before finding solace at his home team of Delhi for 2019.
Thisara Perera (6 teams)
Aside from Finch, Thisara Perera is the only overseas player to have played for at least six Indian T20 League teams. What makes that even more incredible is that the all-rounder only played in a total of 37 matches across those six seasons.
After making his series debut for Chennai, Perera switched teams every year but one, going on to play for Kerala, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Punjab and finally, Pune. Punjab was the only team where he spent two seasons (2014-15).
The Sri Lankan continues to play for his country, last competing in the ODI against West Indies at the start of March this year, before the global virus-induced lockdown.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Punit Paranjpe
