Yuvraj Singh shines for Punjab before IPL auctions

Yuvraj Singh scored a brisk 41 off 34 balls and picked up two wickets in five overs in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match against Tamil Nadu in Mohali.

Yuvraj Singh grabbed eyeballs with both bat and ball two days before the IPL 2019 auctions during the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match between Punjab and Tamil Nadu at Mohali.

In a match, which will be remembered for Shubman Gill’s marathon 268-run inning, the veteran Yuvraj Singh did manage to leave his mark and just at the right time before the eight franchises bid to fill the gaps in their teams in the IPL 2019 auctions in Jaipur on Tuesday.

Punjab resumed day 3 with an eye on a big total but received an early setback in the form of captain Mandeep Singh, which brought Yuvraj in the middle. The out of favour left-hander, who was released by Kings XI Punjab, forged an important 61-run stand with Gill at a fair clip to bring the Punjab innings back on track.

Yuvraj scored 41 runs off just 34 balls, hitting eight fours before he was unfortunately run out. He backing up too far when Gill's straight drive was deflected off K Vignesh's hand on to the stumps to leave him stranded.

From 462 for 5, the home team slid to 479 all out in 118.5 overs with Kishore taking the wickets of Mann and Gill, stumped by Dinesh Karthik when he stepped out for a big shot.

Yuvraj then played a key role for Punjab with the ball in hand. Tamil Nadu began the second innings in a solid manner with Mukund and N Jagadeesan batting positively, especially the latter looking for runs.

Jagadeesan hit six fours and a six before Yuvraj had him caught by wicketkeeper Abhishek Gupta for 50.

Yuvraj struck again with his slow left-arm spin as he had Baba Aparajith leg-before-wicket off the very next ball.

Yuvraj bowled 5 overs, picked up two wickets and gave away only 12 runs to keep a lid on the TN scoring rate. TN were for 166 3 at stumps with Punja firmly in control of the match.

Coming back to Yuvraj’s IPL aspirations, The 37-year-old has kept his base price at INR 1 crore and with very little chance of him getting another opportunity with the bat before the auctions, Yuvraj would hope his all-round effort convinces the franchises to go for him in the auctions on Tuesday.