The Indian Premier League (IPL) auction has developed a knack of throwing big surprises. And while on most of the occasions, it leaves one and all with a smiling face as the auction has witnessed several relatively unknown players earning deals worth millions, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth on some occasions. England star Joe Root going unsold in the last auction is an example of such moment. Well, the recently-concluded auction nearly threw another such big surprise when India veteran Yuvraj Singh went unsold.
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The southpaw, who has been having a bad time with the bat, had set his base price at INR 1 crore. Earlier this year, he was shown the door by Kings XI Punjab after his poor showing in the last edition of IPL. But that does not undermine the talent of a player who was instrumental in some of India’s greatest triumphs in ODIs and T20Is, most notably the two World Cups. However, the IPL franchises did not give value to the past form and were not ready to take a gamble.
Consequently, Yuvraj went unsold when his name was first called in the IPL auction. And not surprisingly, the cricketing fraternity was shell-shocked with the turn of events. The shocked fans took to Twitter to express their feelings. Here are some of the reactions:
https://twitter.com/lionsdenkxip/status/1074977848216043520
.@YUVSTRONG12 goes unsold!#KXIP #LivePunjabiPlayPunjabi #SaddaSquad #IPLAuction pic.twitter.com/SW4Ww1FMGB
Hope is a good thing, may be the best of things… #SuperAuction?? pic.twitter.com/LQmmeHymE4
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) December 18, 2018
Hurting to see a real hero unsold @YUVSTRONG12 #yuvrajsingh
— Sam (@sam__austin_) December 18, 2018
No buyer for Yuvraj Singh,with just a base price of 1 crore.
?#IPL2019Auction— Aayushi Rathi ?? (@aayushi07rathi) December 18, 2018
Shocker: Yuvraj singh unsold in 2019 #IPLAuctions
Big blow to all the yuvi fans including me.
Not much reason left to watch 2019 Ipl. #IPLAuction— Manik Lamba (@imaniklamba) December 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/Kakarla07/status/1074978081452900353?
https://twitter.com/Iam07ravi/status/1074978077661249538?
Yuvraj Singh unsold sad but was long coming it's hardcore business in IPL .
— Shantanu Shrivastava (@DaKingInDaNorff) December 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/Anshuman86m/status/1074978133831442432?
But the fans’ despair soon turned into delight as three-time IPL winners Mumbai Indians bought the World Cup-winner at his base price in the second round. Later, franchise owner Akash Ambani called it their biggest steal in the tournament’s 11-year-old history.
“To be honest, we had budgeted a lot more for Yuvraj and Malinga. At Rs one crore, a player like Yuvraj is probably a (biggest) steal of 12 (sic) years. He has won every trophy there is to be won,” Ambani told the host broadcaster of the auction.