I never got a chance like Dhoni, Kohli to play for 3-4 years for one franchise: Yuvraj Singh

There was a time when Yuvraj Singh would chunk out big bucks at the IPL auctions. In 2014, Royal Challengers Bangalore bought him for INR 14 crore. At the time, this was the highest bid any player had received. However, he was released after one season.

At the next auction, the left-handed batsman received a bid of INR 16 crore by Delhi Daredevils, making it a new record. Such was the demand of the Punjab batsman in the IPL. However, one thing which the 38-year-old never had was a long stint with one franchise.

Through the years, Singh kept moving from one franchise to another. For the first three seasons, he was with Kings XI Punjab. He was with Pune Warriors India for 2011 and 2013 season. He played four more teams– Bangalore (2014), Delhi (2015), Sunrisers Hyderabad (2016 and 2017) and Mumbai Indians (2019). In a recent interview, the flamboyant batsman expressed his disappointment of not playing for a single franchise for more than a few years.

“I never got a chance to play for 3-4 years for one franchise team. Virat (Kohli), (MS) Dhoni, Rohit (Sharma) have played for the same franchise team for many years. You get a base but I have never been able to get a permanent place” said Yuvraj Singh during the interview as quoted by Times Now.

Yuvraj Singh opens up on his KXIP stint

Sharma has been with Mumbai Indians since 2011 while Kohli is the only player to play all the seasons until now for one franchise. MS Dhoni has been with Chennai Super Kings since 2008. He had played for Rising Pune Supergiant, in the two seasons where CSK were banned.

Talking about his experience of playing at the Kings XI Punjab, the ex-cricketer expressed that he felt like running away from the franchise. Yuvi had been the skipper for the Punjab franchise in 2008 and 2009 season. In the 2008 season, KXIP had a terrific year but they lost the semifinals.

Speaking on his time at the franchise, the Punjab player said he didn’t have the control over the team as a captain should have. He also explained that he loves playing for Punjab but representing the franchise didn’t make him happy.

“There was a place from where I wanted to run away, it was Kings XI Punjab. Whenever I asked for a player, they did not give it to me. It is also amazing that when I left, they bought all those players. I was just the captain on the team for the sake of it. I loved playing for Punjab but I wanted to run away from that franchise”, Yuvraj said.