RCB Director Amrit Thomas today said the franchise team was interested in buying back Yuvraj Singh, who was eventually snapped up by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs. 7 crore in the IPL players' auction here.
"I don't agree (that Yuvraj did not evoke interest among bidders). If you look at the bidding we were very interested, but issues of bidding and price ceiling issues, did not allow us to go for him. He is really a marquee player and hope he plays for us sometime in the future," Thomas said told reporters here.
Yuvraj wasn't third-time lucky in terms of being the biggest buy after being the costliest player in the previous two auction.
The stylish southpaw has represented four teams, (Kings XI Punjab, Pune Warriors India, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils) playing 98 matches and scoring 2099 runs.
Thomas also said RCB was looking for an international all-rounder to get the balance right and the team is happy to have Shane Watson, for whom they shelled out a whopping Rs 9.5 crore.
"We believe so (buying Shane has added spice into the team). We were looking for Shane Watson for get the balance right in the team and finally we got him at the bargain price. He is an international allrounder and is the best in the world, and you can judge from his recent performance itself," Thomas said.
Australian all-rounder Watson became the first million-dollar buy of the auction going to Royal Challengers Bangalore for a whopping Rs 9.5 crore after an intense bidding war.
Raghu Iyer, CEO of Rising Pune Super Giants, said they are very happy with the players they have got including Ishant Sharma, who was bought for his good performance of late.
"We just have five players and we need to build the team, and we are trying to build the team. We were looking for allrounders, but we are very happy with the players we got including Ishant Sharma who was bought due to his performance," he said.
Debutants Pune Supergiants got Ishant for Rs 3.8 crore. They also got Kevin Pietersen for Rs 3.5 crore, the first player to go under the hammer, even though Gujarat Lions also bid intensely for the dashing England batsman.
Asked why Martin Guptill and Aaron Finch remained unsold, Iyer said, "Every individual team has its own strategy. They are talented and don't deserve to sit on he benches. They are class players.
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Delhi Daredevils Official T A Sekar said the franchisees have become smarter in bidding for players as their focus is more on forming a strong and balanced team.
"The franchisee have become very smart. They exactly know what they want because they have people to select team. Their main focus is to build strong and well-balanced team," he told reporters at the IPL Auction 2016 here when he was asked why the players like Yuvraj have not been sold for higher prices as they did in previous auctions.
Giving yet another reason, Sekar said the demand and supply is bigger in big auction and smaller in small auction, and hence the players have not gone up for sale for large amounts.
"Normally it is other way round - During bigger auctions, demand and supply is big. In auctions such as this, demand and supply is very very small. This auction is taking place because of the absence of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. That is why the prices have not gone that high," he said.
Replying to a query, Keshav Bansal, owner of Gujarat Lions, said he was in touch with captain Suresh Raina before participating in the auction.
"I had an auction before the auction. Obviously, he is the captain and he will have a say. We are in touch with him before the auction," he said.
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Kings XI Punjab co-owner Priety Zinta today said on a lighter note that Mohit Sharma's impending marriage has brought him good luck.
Indian pacer Mohit has been bought by the Kings XI Punjab for Rs 6.5 crore.
"You can only play 10 players. We had already got Mohit. We had Shardul. Mohit is getting married, so his wife is pretty lucky," said Zinta.
