Even before the IPL auctions began, rumours about Yuvraj Singh being one of the highest buys were doing the rounds.
The swashbuckling southpaw was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2014 for a whopping 14 crore. For the 2015 edition, the Delhi Daredevils have bought him for a higher amount – 16 crore.
This is the first time Yuvraj will be playing for the Daredevils. The team has had its share of ups and downs in former IPL editions. With Singh being included to their squad, their chances of lifting the 2015 IPL trophy definitely gets augmented.
This prediction comes at the back of Singh’s performance in the Ranji Trophy where he scored three back-to-back centuries for Punjab. Being out of this year’s ICC World Cup definitely hurt the Indian batsman and he would be willing to prove his worth.
Dinesh Karthik, on the other hand, has emerged as the second highest purchase with the Royal Challengers Bangalore buying him for 10.5 crore. The third highest buy is Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews, who has been bought for 7.5 crore by Delhi Daredevils. Royal Challengers showed great interest in buying the Sri Lankan all-rounder, too, but eventually surrendered to Daredevils.
Former Delhi Daredevils captain Kevin Pietersen was also predicted to sell highly to one of the IPL teams with his base price being 2 crore. He was sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad for his base price of 2 crore. Former Australian middle-order batsman Michael Hussey comes back home to Chennai Super Kings when the giants bought him for 1.5 crore.
The IPL 2015 auction has shocking names featuring in the unsold list – Hashim Amla, Zaheer Khan, Brad Hodge, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara, to name a few.
Post-IPL 2014, rumours were rife about Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals being left out of this year’s tournament due to supposed scandals. However, they will be featuring in the tournament and will be host to several matches, too.
With players like Yuvraj Singh changing teams, chances of underdogs like Delhi Daredevils become high.
This year’s is the eighth edition of the Indian Premier League and is set to begin on April 8, 2015.