Yuvraj Singh was bought for Rs. 16 crore by Delhi Daredevils at the IPL-8 player auction. Photo: REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

by ESPNcricinfo

For the second successive year, Yuvraj Singh attracted a record bid in the IPL auction, this time from Delhi Daredevils who purchased the allrounder for Rs 16 crore (approx. $2.67 million).

In the 2014 auction, Royal Challengers Bangalore had purchased Yuvraj for Rs. 14 crore (approx. $2.33million) and the franchise was involved in a bidding contest with Daredevils that pushed the bid for the allrounder past the Rs 10-crore mark. Incidentally, Yuvraj was one of the players released by Royal Challengers before the auction.

Only two other players – Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Karthik – attracted million-dollar bids in the marquee round of the auction in Bangalore. Mathews was purchased by Daredevils for Rs 7.5 crore (approx. $1.25 million), while Karthik was signed by Royal Challengers for Rs 10.5 crore (approx. $1.75 million). In last year’s auction, Karthik was purchased by Daredevils for 12.5 crore (approx. $2.08 million).

Sunrisers Hyderabad purchased Kevin Pietersen for his base price of Rs 2 crore ($0.33 milion) and Eoin Morgan for Rs 1.5 crore (0.25 million). Sunrisers also purchased New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson for Rs 60 lakh ($100,000).

Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and South Africa Test captain Hashim Amla were unsold in the first round of the marquee-player auction.

Player auction: a snapshot