IPL: 5 cricketers who were only part of first edition
These five legendary players never featured in the cash-rich league again after the inaugural IPL season in 2008.
2. Stephen Fleming
In international cricket, Stephen Fleming is regarded as one of the greatest players to grace the sport. Serving New Zealand from 1994-2008, he achieved a lot as a batter and captain in both ODI and Test formats. Among veterans such as Sourav Ganguly, Ricky Ponting, and Sachin Tendulkar, the southpaw was one of the most distinguished players who submitted his name in the 2008 IPL auction.
Banking on his experience and skills, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) picked him up at the 2008 IPL auction. In the debut season, Fleming was one of the most experienced players in the CSK squad. Considering his reputation, the franchise assigned him the role of opening the innings along with Parthiv Patel.
However, the left-handed batter couldn’t provide anything solid with his bat in the competition. In his ten outings, the dynamic Kiwi batter could amass only 196 runs at an underwhelming strike rate of 118.78. In the next season, the Chennai-based outlet gave the coaching mantle to Fleming, and since then, he is an integral part of CSK’s camp.
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