Indian Premier League auction is one event that almost every cricketer looks forward to every year. It is a place where players get a life-changing money deal. Every franchise splashes crores of rupees in order to rope talented players, who can help them in lifting a cash-rich league. Meanwhile, there is always an auctioneer, who calls out the name of every name. And, former IPL auctioneer Richard Madely has revealed a controversy that involved the name of Yuvraj Singh.
In IPL 2014, Yuvraj Singh was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore at a whopping price of INR 14 Crores. During that auction, there came a point when RCB almost pocketed Singh’s services at a normal price of INR 10 Crores. However, it was KKR, who popped out as one of the franchises to give competition to the then Vijay Malya’s side.
Auctioneer Richard Madely reveals controversy involving Yuvraj Singh’s name during IPL 2014 Auction
Richard Madely in a conversation with Indian cricketer Ravi Ashwin said that he called out Yuvraj Singh’s name for the last time (RCB bid 10 Crores) and he didn’t found a bidder except for RCB. As per him, he was all set to sell former World Cup-winning all-rounder to RCB at a price of INR 10 Crores. But, in the last few seconds, he received a bid from KKR. However, the Bangalore-based franchise didn’t want to back down and took the bid to 14 Crores in order to buy the star player.
The auctioneer asserted that in the end, even Vijay Mallya exclaimed with joy saying that finally, the player is mine.
“I looked around the room and asked if everyone was all done now (when the bid was Rs 10 crore). I look all the way and there is nobody bidding. My hammer is up and the hammer came down,” Madley said in a conversation with Ravichandran Ashwin on the latter’s YouTube channel.
