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Top 5 Cricketers who have not played for their home city in IPL yet
Delhi franchise must be penitent for not having roped in Kohli 13 years ago
Indian Premier League (IPL) is no doubt a big festival nowadays. Thirteen teams in total have participated in the League including the now-defunct Deccan Chargers, Kochi Tuskers, Pune Warriors, Gujarat Lions, and Rising Super Giant. Eleven cities have been represented in the League so far.
Initially, players like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag had represented their home teams in the League. The purpose was to increase popularity and fan-base. But later on, that is not being applied as the players necessarily do not represent their home teams.
Rohit Sharma, R. Ashwin, and Shikhar Dhawan represent their home teams but stars are there also who represent other teams that are not from their home state.
We will be searching such Top 5 Cricketer who have not played for their home city in IPL yet.
Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli is surely on the top of the list of Top 5 Cricketers who have not played for their home city in IPL yet. The Indian captain does not need any new introduction. One of the best batsmen in the World in present times is the highest run-scorer of all time in the IPL history with 5878 runs in 192 matches at an average of 38.16 including a fabulous strike rate of 130.73 and he has already 39 fifties and 5 centuries in his kitty and ranks on the second place in terms of scoring more than 50 after AB De Villiers. His partnership with De Villiers has been the most devastating and delightful to watch in League history.
Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals) had a chance to pick up the local cricketer during the draft for under-19 cricketers in 2008. But the Delhi franchise preferred Pradip Sangwan ahead of Kohli. Had Delhi chosen the Indian captain that time, it would have been a different story for the franchise team.
Harbhajan Singh
One of the greatest spinners India has ever produced. Harbhajan Singh is one of the veteran cricketers in IPL and he had not missed a single season except the last edition of IPL. He could not be called a huge threat to the batsmen with the ball but his amazing economy rates often helped other bowlers to bag the wickets.
Harbhajan has claimed 150 wickets in 160 IPL matches and maintained the economy rate of only 7.05! He is the bowler to have delivered the highest number of dot balls in the League history which have been one-third of his total deliveries (3374).
It was speculated that Harbhajan finally will his place in his home team, Kings XI Punjab. But the veteran spinner finally has been sold to Kolkata Knight Riders in the auction for 2021, held on 18th February.
Dinesh Karthik
Dinesh Karthik is another player among the Top 5 Cricketers who have not played for their home city in IPL yet. The Chennai cricketer has represented six franchise teams during his 13-year career in the IPL but has never donned Chennai Super Kings shirts. It could have been a challenge for him to play for CSK, his home team, especially in presence of MS Dhoni. Karthik who has been retained by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for the 2021 IPL, has scored 3823 runs in 196 matches at a strike rate of 129.63. Dinesh Karthik was the skipper of KKR in 2018 and 2019 IPL but was relieved of his duties in the middle of the League in 2020.
Shreyas Iyer
Shreyas Iyer has been playing in IPL since 2015 and he has been representing Delhi Capitals only in the last five seasons. The batsman who is from Mumbai has scored 2200 runs in 79 matches for the Delhi franchise team at a strike rate of 126.07 including 16 half-centuries which has made him the highest run-scorer for Delhi. Under the captaincy of the 26-year old batsman, Delhi has already ensured a berth in the playoffs twice. Only once during the trading ahead of 2016 IPL Mumbai Indians had tried to get Iyer back into their team but the Delhi franchise team immediately rejected Mumbai's proposal.
Deepak Chahar
Deepak Chahar has established himself as one of the most effective swing bowlers in the League. He had begun his journey in the League in 2016 for Rising Pune Super Giant but did not get enough opportunities. Then after being roped in the CSK in 2018 Chahar’s career had a big twist. He got chances, proved his mettle, performed, and even got into the Indian team. Chahar has scalped 45 wickets in 48 games at an economy rate of 7.62 and the most interesting part in his bowling statistics so far is that Deepak Chahar had delivered 5 maiden overs which is a remarkable feat in a format like Twenty20.
The Rajasthani bowler had been a part of his home team Rajasthan Royals in 2011 and 2012 but could not continue. However, the bowler has found CSK for the forthcoming 2021 IPL.
