5 Players who went from Mumbai Indians to Chennai Super Kings

The IPL Auction 2020 is just around the corner as all the teams and fans are gearing up for the 13^th edition of the Indian Premier League. As always, the franchises have released their respective lists of retained players ahead of the auction. The team managements have two goals in mind while deciding the player retentions. The first is to maximize their budget while the second is to do away with the under-performing players.

A bunch of these released players end up playing for some other franchise in the succeeding edition of the IPL. As the fans know, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings are regarded as the two most successful teams of the tournament. Thus, it is a dream of every player to be a part of the two teams.

However, in the last 13 years, there have been 5 players whom Mumbai Indians picked first and then in the next year, they donned the Chennai Super Kings jersey. Here’s a list of the 5 cricketers who went from MI to CSK:

Harbhajan Singh

The veteran Indian off-spinner, Harbhajan Singh was the cornerstone of Mumbai Indians in the first 10 years of IPL. He had played only 3 matches in IPL 2008 but in all the next tourneys, Harbhajan was an integral part of the Mumbai-based franchise.

He picked 127 wickets for Mumbai in the 136 games he played for them. Singh had even captained the Mukesh Ambani-owned franchise occasionally. However, because of his ineffective performances, Mumbai released him before IPL 2018.

In IPL Auction 2018, the returning Chennai Super Kings signed him at his base price of 2 Crores INR. The Punjabi player has turned up for MS Dhoni’s side in the last two seasons, scalping 23 wickets in 24 matches. He had an impressive economy rate of 7.09 in IPL 2019.

Karn Sharma

The 32-year-old leg-spinner, Karn Sharma made a name for himself while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2013. His consistent performances in the bowling department earned him a national call-up. Though he could not cement his position in the Indian team, he has been a regular fixture in the Indian Premier League.

After the Orange Army released him in 2017, Mumbai Indians signed him up. Karn proved to be a valuable addition to the Mumbai squad as he scored 49 runs and took 13 wickets in the 9 games he donned the blue and gold jersey. He even lifted the trophy with them that year but, the franchise released him soon.

Next, Chennai Super Kings grabbed his services by offering him a contract of 5 Crores INR. The MS Dhoni-led outfit has not used his services much as he has played only 7 matches in the last two seasons. Yet they have kept him in their squad for IPL 2020.

Ambati Rayudu

One of the most controversial players of recent times, Ambati Rayudu grew under the shadows of Sachin Tendulkar at Mumbai Indians. He played 8 seasons for Mumbai Indians and he lifted the IPL trophy thrice as a part of the franchise.

Playing for the Mumbai-based franchise, Rayudu had crossed the 300-run milestone in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2016. He was the pillar of the Mumbai Indians batting lineup because the team management always knew that Rayudu would deliver the goods when no one would.

But, because of his under-par performances, Mumbai Indians did not retain him after 2017. They chased him in the IPL Auction 2018 but, Chennai ended up as the winners of the bidding war with a 2.20 Crores INR bid. The yellow army then promoted him to the top of the order and that move paid rich dividends as Rayudu scored 602 runs in just 16 matches.

Dwayne Bravo

Mumbai Indians committed the biggest blunder in IPL history when they released West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo from their squad. Though Bravo was not that big a name in world cricket during 2010, he went to become one of the greatest T20 all-rounders in the next few years.

Chennai Super Kings bought him in 2011. He did not make a big impact in his debut season for CSK but he took 47 wickets in the next two seasons. Bravo single-handedly destroyed the opposition batting lineups in IPL 2013 as the ‘Champion’ player dismissed 32 batsmen in that tournament.

He could play only one game in 2014 but he bounced back in style in 2015 with 26 wickets in 17 matches. When CSK returned to the IPL in 2018, Dwayne had played a match-winning knock of 68 runs in their very first match. He has been one of the key reasons behind CSK’s success and it is unlikely that the franchise will ever release him.

Dwayne Smith

Another West Indian T20 legend to feature on this list is the all-rounder, Dwayne Smith. The right-handed batsman had been roped in by Mumbai Indians as a replacement for Mitchell Johnson in IPL 2012. He played two seasons for the Mumbai-based franchise, scoring 575 runs in 20 matches. Smith even took 4 wickets for Mumbai with his right-arm medium pace.

However, the Mumbai Indians released him before IPL 2014. Chennai Super Kings signed him in the auction and that kicked off the era of Smith and Brendon McCullum in the IPL. The two players opened the innings for four years, two for Chennai and two for Gujarat Lions.

The duo provided their teams with fiery starts. Smith had been one of the leading run-scorers in IPL 2014 with 566 runs in 16 matches. His form dipped in a bit in 2015 but still, the all-rounder ended the season with 399 runs.