Indian T20 League: 5 players who left their franchise under controversial circumstances

Not only is the Indian T20 league a brand but several people connect with it emotionally as well. As a matter of fact, several players tend to emotionally attach themselves to a team and thus, showcase their loyalty. However, there have been a few occasions where the relationship between a player and a franchise have been hostile.

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This led to them leaving their respective teams on a rather sour note. The relationship between the franchise and player in such instances tend to draw a lot of unwanted attention. on that note, here's a look at five players who left their franchise under controversial circumstances:

1) David Warner

David Warner was synonymous with Hyderabad for a really long time. Besides, he was one of their key players as well. However, the emotional bond he shared with the franchise was severely dented during the 2021 edition.

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During the 14th edition of the Indian T20 league, Warner was axed as Hyderabad's captain, and was dropped from the XI as well. While his form with the bat wasn't great, things didn't really look great for the Aussie in the Hyderabad camp. Thus, he wasn't even retained ahead of the mega auction.

2) Mahendra Singh Dhoni

MS Dhoni has been Chennai's heartbeat, and has been with them since the inception. However, as they were banned for two years (2016 and 2017), he represented the now-defunct Pune during those two seasons. Things got out of hand during the 2017 edition, when the legendary Indian cricketer was sacked as Pune's captain.

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Steve Smith replaced Dhoni as the skipper, and both seemed to have a great rapport. However, the franchise's co-owner Harsh Goenka decided to bring down the 40-year-old in a Tweet, and praise the Aussie legend. Thus, this didn't sit well with the fans, and they didn't like the fact that Dhoni was disrespected.

3) Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly is one of the most celebrated cricketers in India. However, his time at Kolkata during the Indian T20 league wasn't really a memorable one. Although he led the franchise for a long time, he couldn't yield any significant results.

Besides, he and the then head coach John Marshall Buchanan didn't really get along. Although the Aussie was later sacked, Ganguly had yet another mediocre season, after which, he too was dropped from the team ahead of the 2011 auction.

4) Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir was with Kolkata for seven seasons, and led them to two titles. Yet, he moved to Delhi in 2018 as he wanted to end his career with his home franchise. However, he had a torrid time during the 2018 edition, and was unimpressive as a leader as well as a batter.

In six games, he was only able to score 85 runs. After which, he decided to step down as Delhi's captain. However, although he was available to play, the team never selected him. He was then never picked in the playing XI.

5) Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh played the first three editions of the Indian T20 league for Punjab, and later on went on to represent them in 2018 as well. However, he wasn't too happy with the franchise. During an interview in 2020, the all-rounder had said that he was never given the freedom to select a player he wanted.

He even went on to say that he was captain just "for the sake of it". It is to be noted that Kumar Sangakkara replaced him as Punjab's captain in the 2010 edition. Other than Punjab, he has played for several teams such as the now-defunct Pune, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.