He may not have made it to the World Cup squad, but all-rounder Yuvraj Singh proved that he is still in the game after Delhi Daredevils snared him for a record ₹16 crore in the IPL auctions held on Monday.
Last year, Royal Challengers Bangalore bought Yuvraj for ₹14 crore, the highest-ever bid then in the IPL auctions. In the latest round of auctions, a total of 67 players went under the hammer, including 23 foreign ones.
Yuvraj was the hot favourite when the bidding opened in the morning at a five-star hotel in the city. In a four-way bidding war, Rajasthan Royals, Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers tried to outbid each other to bag Yuvraj. But once the bidding crossed ₹7 crore, Rajasthan and Punjab teams withdrew, leaving Bangalore and Delhi in the field.
Delhi finally won the bid as it had a larger purse of ₹39.75 crore at its disposal. Justifying the decision to bid for Yuvraj, Delhi Daredevils CEO Hemant Dua said he was a very valuable asset “who is a brand by himself and an icon player which the team lacked.”
But the RCB team, which released Yuvraj earlier, said it was a strategic decision to do so. The RCB director PA Murali told newspersons that the team’s strategy was to release Yuvraj and then ensure the depletion of the purse of other teams. This would help RCB to get key players at lower price, he said.
Royal Challengers bought Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik for ₹10.5 crore, the second-highest bid for a player in the eighth edition of the auctions conducted by Richard Madley.
While bidding for some of the key players went on expected lines, star South African batsman Hashim Amla went unsold though he carried a base price of ₹2 crore. So did Kumara Sangakkara, the former Sri Lankan captain, who carried a base price of ₹1 crore.
Among the uncapped players, Mumbai batsman, Shreyas Iyer was bagged by Delhi Daredevils for a whopping ₹2.6 crore while Karnataka’s little known leg break bowler KC Cariappa went to Kolkata Knight Riders for ₹2.40 crore.