No bids were made for Yuvraj Singh during the IPL 2019 auctions. The incident is just another example of how the competition does not value reputation.
The legendary left-handed all-rounder was suffering off a terrible IPL with the Kings XI Punjab, since he was a poor image of his older glory, scoring only 65 runs in six innings.
This was the team where he began as an elite player in IPL 2008 when he was at the peak of his profession. That same year, under his guidance, Kings XI Punjab advanced to the Indian premier league play-offs, the farthest they’d ever advanced in the competition.
Yuvraj’s batting used to be effective, although not always consistent. Despite only scoring one half-century that year, his scoring rate was an amazing 162.5.
Nevertheless, having had a disappointing 2009 IPL, both for him and for the franchise, led to Yuvraj being relieved of captaincy in favor of Kumar Sangakkara, a move that wasn’t much of an improvement, but negatively affected Yuvraj’s performance. As a result, he would switch franchises for the first time.
Yuvraj joined Pune Warriors shortly after playing a crucial role in India’s World Cup victory. He had been bought for USD 1.8 million by the club. The franchise’s top scorer finished the season with 343 runs, setting a new career-high, but it wasn’t enough to save them from finishing second last in the points table.
The Pune situation sank after Yuvraj was ruled out of the 2012 and 2013 seasons due to cancer. In 2013, Yuvraj returned to the team, but could not lift an ailing Pune campaign.
No matter how good Yuvraj is, he was the most expensive player in the 2014 and 2015 auctions when Royal Challenger Bangalore paid INR 14 crores for him and Delhi Daredevils paid INR 16 crores. However, after a year of ineffective performances, he was forced to leave those franchises.
The next year in 2016, Yuvraj was acquired by Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 7 crores and had a couple of middling years there. In 2018, KXIP came calling offering him a base price value of INR 2 crores, which was not what Yuvraj fans had grown accustomed to.
So another franchise change beckoned, and we were in for another surprise. Despite returning to his original hometown, he didn’t become the same person he once was. In other words, the auctions aren’t totally surprising because the first-round snub took place.
Mumbai Indians approached him at a base price of INR 1 crore before the door could close on his IPL future. Since Yuvraj has been living in Mumbai for the past 10 years, this is his sixth IPL franchise and a second home. In an announcement on June 10, 2019, Yuvraj Singh said he would retire from all formats of world cricket.
