Delhi Daredevils buys Yuvraj for record Rs 16 cr

Bangalore, February 16

Flamboyant all-rounder Yuvraj Singh on Monday emerged as the costliest cricketer in the IPL 8 players' auction, bought for a record Rs 16 crore (USD 2.57 million approx) by Delhi Daredevils here.

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Yuvraj, who carried a base price of Rs 2 crore, was sold for the highest ever price in IPL history after a fierce tug of war for his services between Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore, who bought him last year for Rs 14 crore, at a glitzy auction at a city hotel here.

However, it was quite a surprise to see Yuvraj going past his last year's price as he has been out of the Indian team for some time.

Initially, there was a four-way bidding among Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers, Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Daredevils to buy India's 2011 World Cup hero in the auction conducted by Richard Madley. But once the bidding reached Rs 7 crore, RR and KXIP quit, leaving DD and RCB in the fray.

Delhi Daredevils, who have the largest purse of Rs 39.75 crore among all the eight franchises taking part in the auction, also bought Sri Lankan captain and all-rounder Angelo Mathews for Rs 7.5 crore, the third highest price in the first two rounds of auction.

RCB, who lost to DD in their bid to get Yuvraj and Mathews, bought wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik for Rs 10.5 crore, the second highest price, even though it was Rs 1.5 crore lower than the amount he was bought for by DD last year.

Surprisingly, formerEnglandcaptain Kevin Pietersen, who was bought for Rs 9 crore last year by DD, could get just Rs 2 crore as he was sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad at the base price.

Other players sold in the auction were India Test opener Murali Vijay for Rs 3 crore (to KXIP), leg-spinner Amit Mishra (Rs 3.5 crore by DD), Aaron Finch (Rs 3.2 crore by Mumbai Indians), Eoin Morgan (Rs 1.5 crore by SRH) and Kane Williamson (Rs 60 lakh by SRH).

Sri Lankan stalwarts Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan, Indian pacers Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan, South African batsman Hashim Amla and New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor went unsold in the initial rounds of the auction attended by Nita Ambani, Ricky Ponting, Anil Kumble, V V S Laxman, Muttiah Muralitharan, Rahul Dravid, Gary Kirsten, Stephen Fleming, Vijay Mallya and Preity Zinta among others. — PTI