JOIN USYuvraj still IPL king at Rs 16 cr
Flamboyant all-rounder Yuvraj Singh expectedly turned out to be the hottest deal of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction here on Monday, attracting the highest-ever IPL bid of Rs 16 crore.
Banished from the national side and even dropped from the BCCI contract list, the 34-year-old elicited intense bidding, which showed how much teams still value him.
If Yuvraj’s auction went on expected lines, Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) purchase of K C Cariappa exceeded expectations. The defending champions bought the 21-year-old Karnataka cricketer for Rs 2.4 crore, an astronomical rise from his base price of Rs 10 lakh.
However, Yuvraj remained the star of the day. Released by RCB, who had procured him for a then-record of Rs 14 crore, Yuvraj attracted instant attention of the franchises.
“We wanted Yuvraj,” said Delhi Daredevils (DD) CEO Hemant Dua. “We didn’t expect RCB to put him back into the auction and then go all out at Rs 15 crore. That was strange. But yeah, we definitely wanted him, and given the combination we have, he brings a lot of value to the team.”
On their part, KKR defended their purchase of Cariappa, a cricketer with little pedigree.
“Auction dynamics are such that when we actually picked Sunil Narine for the first time, the same question was asked of us,” said KKR CEO Venky Mysore on the rationale behind the high bid for Cariappa. “Nobody knew Narine at that point. Hopefully, people will know Cariappa at some point, and he remains a mystery until then!”
Zaheer Khan, another star player who was axed from the BCCI contract list and went unsold in the first round of auction on the day, fetched Rs 4 crore from DD, showing that he is still very much in demand.