Fights Between Franchises And Players: The Indian Premier League (IPL) is reckoned to be a domestic tournament. It is a stage where local talent finds opportunities to express themselves. The tournament largely remains non-controversial, especially from a franchise-player relationship. But there have been instances where the rifts between a player and a franchise have played out in the open. It has often led to a player walking out of the team or being dropped from the side.
We Look At 4 Such Instances Of Fights Between Players and Franchises:
#4 Sourav Ganguly – KKR, 2009
It was a season of epic disaster for the Kolkata Knight Riders. The year 2009 was a nightmare for the franchise. They not just finished last in the points table but their off-field issues crippled them even further. John Buchanan, the controversial KKR coach proposed a four-captain theory. Sourav Ganguly, the skipper in the first season appeared all at sea with this thought process. Brendon McCullum replaced him as captain. It was chaos everywhere. KKR burnt a bridge too deep with Ganguly.
#3 Suresh Raina – CSK, 2020
Chennai Super Kings’ relationship with Suresh Raina was one that was etched in loyalty. He has represented CSK every single season the franchise was part of. Raina was the most giant run machine for CSK across seasons. He was a run-bank who guaranteed a minimum of 400 runs every season. His energy rubbed off on other individuals who played for CSK.
But in the pandemic-affected season of 2020, it all went haywire for the player-franchise duo. Owing to some miscommunication in logistics, Raina left the CSK bubble in 2020 and missed out on a whole season. Despite him turning out for CSK in 2021, everyone knew things were not the same between Raina and the franchise.
#2 David Warner – SRH, 2021
He was undoubtedly the best player who represented SRH. David Warner was more crucial to SRH than Virat Kohli was to RCB. No player in the history of IPL has singlehandedly won his team the title, Warner was an exception. He took the team to glory on the back of his stellar 848 runs. It remains the third-highest amount of runs ever scored in an IPL season.
Warner playing for SRH won three orange cap titles. The only batsman so far to hold this record. But it all amounted to nothing in 2021 when an upset Warner expressed his displeasure over team selection. It was enough for the franchise to hold it against him. They first sacked Warner from captaincy, and later went on to drop him. A hurt Warner went on to win the ‘player of the series’ award at the T20 World Cup 2021.
#1 Ravindra Jadeja – CSK, 2022
He had everything going for him in the IPL. Ravindra Jadeja was in the form of his life. He had smashed his highest Test score of 175*. There was little wrong that he could do. Jadeja shockingly was given the captaincy of CSK just days before the season started. The management claimed that Jadeja was being groomed for the role since last year. It was expected that Jadeja would carry his golden form into the leadership role too. But as game after game unfurled, it became clear that he was just being looked at as a paper captain.
As losses started piling up, Jadeja gave up captaincy. MS Dhoni took over the reins. A couple of matches later, Jadeja ruled himself out of the tournament citing injury. It seemed as if he was forced to give up the captaincy, a position that was thrust upon him and not in accordance with him. Whether Jadeja continues to play for CSK next season remains to be seen.
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