Jaipur: Veteran Yuvraj Singh finally found a buyer at the IPL players’ auction that had an unmissable Caribbean flavour to it.
England all-rounder Sam Curran was bought for Rs 7.2 crore by Kings XI Punjab on Tuesday.
Colin Ingram was the second-highest paid overseas player with Delhi Capitals shelling out Rs 6.4 crore for the South Africa wicket-keeper batsman.
Yuvraj fans must have also heaved a sigh of relief when the 37-year-old was bought by Mumbai Indians for his base price of Rs 1 crore after going unsold initially.
“If you are wondering why this took time…we’ve just got back to senses! Welcome to Mumbai (Yuvraj),” tweeted Mumbai Indians. Yuvraj secured a last minute deal but his IPL fortunes have been declining rapidly.
In 2015, he fetched a record Rs 16 crore deal with the Delhi franchise but was picked up by KXIP at his base of price of Rs 2 crore last season before the team released him. Both uncapped and capped Indians were in demand at the auction.
Medium pacer Jaydev Unadkat became a millionaire once again with a Rs 8.4 crore bid from Rajasthan Royals.
Unadkat is back in the RR fold after being released at the end of the 2018 season. He had been bought for Rs 11.5 crore by RR earlier this year.
On Tuesday, the Royals lapped him up after a bidding battle with KXI, CSK and Delhi Capitals. Uncapped players who attracted huge amounts were 16-year-old all-rounder Prayas Ray Barman from Bengal (Rs 1.5 cr to RCB), Punjab wicketkeeper Prab Simran Singh (Rs 4.8 cr to KXIP), Mumbai batsman Shivam Dube (Rs 5 cr to RCB) and Uttar Pradesh batsman Akshdeep Nath (Rs 3.6 cr to RCB), who was bought after he re-entered the auction pool.
With uncertainty over the availability of Australian and England players in a World Cup year, the teams went after the West Indians. Out of the 20 overseas slots available, six were sealed by the Caribbean players including Shimron Hetmyer, Carlos Brathwaite , Nicholas Pooran, Oshane Thomas, Keemo Paul and Sherfane Rutherford.
Royal Challengers Bangalore paid Rs 4.2 crore for Hetmyer. Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals also bid for the stylish West Indian batsman, who had a base price of Rs 50 lakh.
His teammate Brathwaite, the star of 2016 World T20, was sold to KKR for Rs 5 crore after a bidding war between the Dinesh Karthik-led side and Kings XI Punjab. The all-rounder had entered the auction with a base price of Rs 75.
Another West Indian to get an attractive deal was wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran. The 23-year-old, who came with a base price of Rs 75 lakh, went for Rs 4.20 crore to KXIP. He is a T20 find and is yet to play Test cricket.
| Yuvraj in IPL so far… |
| 2008 – Kings XI Punjab 2011 – Pune Warriors India 2014 – Royal Challengers Bangalore 2015 – Delhi Daredevils 2016 – Sunrisers Hyderabad 2018 – Kings XI Punjab 2019 – Mumbai Indians |