5 Players who had a rivalry with their own franchise in the Indian T20 League

Indian T20 League is undoubtedly one of the prestigious T20 franchise leagues in the world. The league has earned amazing popularity since its inception in 2022. It has given the platform to a lot of cricketers. Apart from this, the Indian T20 League has also a very close bond with the controversies as well.

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From spot-fixing scandals to controversies off the field, there have been several incidents that had somehow hurt the prestige of this tournament. Similarly, there have been instances when some individual players had a tussle with their own franchises.

So, here we’ll have a look at five players in the history of the league who had a history of rivalry with the very franchise they played for.

David Warner with Sunrisers Hyderabad, 2021

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Not a very old incident so the memories are still a bit fresh of David Warner’s bitter experiences during his stint with the Hyderabad franchise. The very southpaw who took the team to the title triumph in 2016, Warner had to see a phase in 2021 when his fans went on to the extent of criticizing Hyderabad management.

Notably, Warner ended up as the orange-cap holder in the seasons of 2015, 2017, and 2019 respectively. It was seeming like the franchise will go a long time with a senior Australian batter. But the season of 2021 came as a nightmare for the Hyderabad team when lost five matches in their initial six games of the season. Following the downfall, the franchise expressed its dissatisfaction with Warner.

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Eventually, the management decided to remove him from the captaincy and he had to sit outside the boundary line which went wrong with his fans and they trolled the franchise for this decision.

Suresh Raina with Chennai, 2020

One of the veteran batting all-rounders of India who has been the most consistent player in the history of the Indian T20 League. Raina played an integral part in the Chennai franchise except for the ban of two years on the franchise for two years due to the 2013 spot-fixing scandal.

Although, Raina again came into Chennai when the ban was revoked from the team. Everything was going well until the forgettable instance of the 2020 edition of the league. The lean patch of the relationship between the left-hander and the franchise made it to the headlines of the media when he decided not to play for the team and left the tour in middle.

Later on, the name of the 35-year-old was included in the 2021 line-up of the Chennai team but he was further replaced by senior English all-rounder Moeen Ali at number. Management decided to let him bat in the middle order which affected both his performance and relation with the franchise.

Finally, Chennai ended it all when they did not purchase Raina in the mega auction for the Indian T20 League of 2022.

Sourav Ganguly with Kolkata, 2009

Former legendary Indian captain and current president of the board of control for cricket India (BCCI), Sourav Ganguly started his career in Indian T20 League for the Kolkata franchise. The management and franchise appointed him as the captain of the team in the first season of 2008. Australian veteran John Buchanan was the coach of the team at that time.

The team was looking very strong on the papers but they ended the season in the sixth position at the end of the first season of the tournament. Furthermore, Buchanan raised questions about Ganguly’s efficiency, later on, their tussle came out in the media. Buchanan also faced criticism for his multi-captaincy theory.

Chris Gayle with Bangalore, 2017

The former Caribbean legend was also one of the most celebrated players of the Indian T20 League. He provided a vital strength as a batter to the Bangalore franchise. Gayle made his first appearance for this team in the year 2011. He also bagged the orange cap two successive times in the season 2011 and 2012

Chris Gayle, another tournament hero, has been an integral part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore line-up ever since his entrance in 2011 and he shredded several bowling attacks. The left-hander was in superb shape, notably during the orange cap-winning seasons of 2011 and 2012.

The southpaw was not happy with the attitude of the franchise towards him. He went on to say things against the management for keeping him in the dark before the auction. The former Caribbean opener also expressed his differences and grudges before leaving the franchise.

Ravindra Jadeja with Chennai

In a shocking piece of news ahead of the 2022 edition of the Indian T20 League, Chennai skipper MS Dhoni stepped down from the role of captaincy. He recommended the name of senior Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja for the role. The start of the 2022 edition went like a nightmare for the team as they lost a lot of successive matches in the beginning.

Jadeja’s performance started being affected due to the extra burden of captaincy on him. He quit the role of skipper in the middle of the league and handed over it again to Dhoni. Later on, Jadeja couldn’t play in the remaining part’s most match due to an injury. On the other hand, There were speculations that the world's number one test all-rounder was very dissatisfied with the behavior of the management and the franchise.