OTD: Yuvraj Singh was the highest bid in IPL 2014 auctions

Yuvraj Singh was known throughout his cricket career for breaking records. Well, on this day he added another feather to his cap by attracting a record bid of 14 crores from the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore in the auction for IPL 2014 which was also the seventh season of the franchise league. 

Expensive Yuvraj

Yuvraj Singh was certainly not going through a great run of form with the bat after his comeback to international cricket post his tough cancer treatment. However, when your name is Yuvraj Singh, your past heroics are enough to induce faith in you. The franchises were waiting to pounce on the opportunity to sign the Indian veteran who was known for his hard-hitting skills in limited overs cricket. Royal Challengers Bangalore who were known to be big spenders did not let go of this opportunity and spent an unprecedented sum of money to get Yuvraj Singh in their dugout.

There were other franchises as well which were in the fray when the bidding was going on for the left-handed all-rounder. Kolkata Knight Riders fought fiercely with Royal Challengers Bangalore for Yuvraj and the 2012 champions went into the double figures (in crores) to chase his signature. Gautam Gambhir has always been a big admirer of Yuvraj and his match-winning potential and it might have been Gambhir who must have urged his management to go hard for the man of the tournament in the 2011 ODI World Cup.

But Royal Challengers Bangalore were in no mood to relent as they knew that any price tag would be justified for a player of Yuvraj’s caliber. Ultimately the 2-time finalists won the race and included Yuvraj Singh in their roster for a huge sum of 14 crores which was also the record at that time, making Yuvraj the most expensive player in the history of IPL. The experienced Indian international went on to have a fairly successful campaign in that season for Royal Challengers Bangalore.