Yuvraj Singh under immense pressure ahead of the IPL auction

The mega auctions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to commence in Bengaluru on Saturday (January 27). The event will be a two-day affair as a total of 578 players will go under the hammer with eight franchises indulging in the bidding war. The players in the marquee list would be the first who will be bought by the teams which include the name of Yuvraj Singh as well. However, he will be under immense pressure following the poor outing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament for Punjab.

The veteran is definitely past his prime and his India career is also in the doldrums. He had a dreadful tournament for his state side and could only score 208 runs in nine matches. Most importantly, he scored all these runs at a strike rate less than 100 which is not at all acceptable in the shortest format of the game. Yuvraj Singh has also kept his base price at Rs 2 Crore which is too high given his waning hitting ability.

Yuvi to go unsold?

Yuvraj Singh has failed to live up to the expectations despite garnering a huge amount in the previous auctions. As many as three franchises have picked him at the hefty price in last few years but he never justified the price tag. “Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad have all picked up Yuvraj during the previous auctions at a hefty price only to release him after one season. The reason being Yuvraj not providing value for money,” a franchise official told PTI on Friday.

He also questioned his abilities to win matches single-handedly nowadays as he is well past his prime. “Out of 14 matches, it is not clear whether Yuvraj still has the ability left in him or not to make a difference in at least five or six matches. His bowling is nowhere as it used to be and fielding has gone down by a few notches. He will be lucky if someone picks him up at the base price. May be Kings XI Punjab, where he had played for first three seasons,” the official added.

He also indicated that Yuvi might be picked by some team if he comes into the auction early. ” It all depends on where he comes in the auction pool. He may get a team if he comes into the auction early. The business dynamics is such that if he is coming after – say two or three lots, then people will be cautious. They won’t easily do away with Rs two crore in which they can buy couple of solid uncapped Indian players,” the official concluded not entirely ruling out the possibility of the left-hander going unsold this year.

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