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The allure of Yuvraj Singh does not seem to have dulled despite his not being included in the Indian World Cup squad for the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Last year, the flamboyant southpaw made headlines as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) doled out Rs 14 crore to have him play for them in the Indian Premiere League. This year, Delhi Daredevils outdid last year’s record bid, and shelled out Rs 16 crore to have Singh on their side.
Available for a base price of Rs 2 crore after RCB released him, Singh was first sought by Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, the two teams that started the bidding for him. However, once the bids crossed Rs 5 crore, the Daredevils and RCB stepped in, and what ensued was a heated battle, culminating in the record bid of Rs 16 crore from the former.
“I think we learnt from last year that if we want a player we need to push hard for him. Hence we were prepared to go all the way with Yuvraj and it is great for the player as well,” Delhi coach Gary Kirsten said justifying the record bid for Yuvraj.
RCB’s last bid for the player was Rs 15.5 crore, which is Rs 1.5 crore more than what the Vijay Mallya-owned team would have paid had it decided to retain him in the first place. The team, however, picked up the second most expensive player of this year’s auction in the form of wicket keeper Dinesh Karthik for Rs 10.5 crore (base price Rs 2 crore). Karthik was last year’s second most expensive player as well, costing his erstwhile owners, the Daredevils, Rs 12.5 crore. Last year’s third most expensive player Kevin Pietersen had a subdued outing in the 2015 auction as he was picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad at base price (Rs 2 crore) along with fellow Englishman Eoin Morgan, also at base price (Rs 1.5 crore).
“The basic strategy to leave out Yuvraj was to ensure that the purses of other teams are defeated so that you are able to get better players later,” RCB director P A Murali said on Monday. However, he added the team would have liked to have Yuvraj back but it did not materialise.
The Daredevils also forked out a handsome Rs 7.5 crore for Sri Lankan all-rounder Angelo Mathews (base price Rs 1.5 crore), thus spending Rs 23.5 crore of its wallet of Rs 39.75 crore on two players. It shelled out Rs 4 crore to get pacer Zaheer Khan on board and another Rs 3.5 crore to acquire Amit Mishra. The Daredevils went into the auction with the heftiest wallet and smallest squad (11 players), and the intention was clearly to re-build the team. The GMR-owned team finished at the bottom of the table in the 2014 edition.
A total of 67 players were auctioned in Monday’s ceremony held in Bengaluru, of which, 23 were overseas players. The teams, which together had a corpus of Rs 134.95 crore at the beginning of the auction, spent a total of Rs 87.6 crore to acquire players (see chart). Five of the eight costliest players were Indians, including Murali Vijay (Rs 3 crore) apart from Singh, Karthik, Mishra and Khan. These eight players accounted for 51 per cent (Rs 44.5 crore) of the total money spent during the auction.
Quite understandably, the Daredevils were the heaviest spenders. The team splurged Rs 38.4 crore to acquire 14 players, ending up with a squad of 25 (nine of them from overseas) and a balance corpus of Rs 1.35 crore. The top three buys —Singh, Mathews and Khan —accounted for 72 per cent (Rs 27.5 crore) of the team’s total spending. It was the highest spender last year as well, depleting its entire kitty of Rs 60 crore by the end of the auction. This year, the wallet for each team was increased by 5 per cent to Rs 63 crore from last year’s Rs 60 crore.
Among the uncapped players, right-handed batsman Shreyas Iyer was picked up for Rs 2.6 crore, by Delhi Daredevils. This makes the Mumbai Cricket Team player (in the Ranji Trophy) the most expensive uncapped player.
Twenty-year-old Karnataka leg spinner KC Cariappa was the second most expensive uncapped player, attracting Rs 2.4 crore from Kolkata Knight Riders.
While Yuvraj and company continued to attract the attentions of the teams, last season’s star performer Sri Lankan Kumara Sangakkara (base price Rs 1 crore) went unsold after coming up for bidding thrice. Similarly, South African cricketer Hashim Amla (base price Rs 2 crore) went unsold, even though he was in the marquee player pool, and was not recalled for rebidding. Sangakkara was joined by fellow Sri Lankans Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan.
