Why Is Yuvraj Singh Not A Part Of IPL 2020?
Yuvraj Singh, an Indian former international cricketer who played in all formats of the game, is not seen in the thirteenth season of the Indian Premier League, being held in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, this year.
Yuvraj, a cancer survivor, played for six different IPL franchises in his twelve-year long career. He began his IPL journey with the Kings XI Punjab in the year 2008. After playing three seasons for Punjab, he switched to the Pune Warriors India in 2011. In his 12-year long IPL career, Yuvraj represented six franchises namely Kings XI Punjab, Pune Warriors India, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Capitals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians, in his last edition.
The former Indian all-rounder is one of the finest white-ball players which the game has produced. He retired from international cricket more than a year ago, but even today, the Indian all-rounder has such a loyal fan base that people always look forward to watching him play in some competition or the other. He receives an enormous amount of love even today. Post his retirement from international cricket, Yuvraj captained Toronto Nationals in the second season of the Global T-20 League 2019 and also represented Maratha Arabians in the Abu Dhabi T-10 League the same year.
In 133 IPL matches, Yuvraj Singh has scored 2,750 runs at an average of 24.77 and a strike rate of 129.72 including 13 half-centuries. Yuvraj’s 36 IPL wickets came at an average of 29.92, an economy rate of 7.44 and a strike rate of 24.14.
While announcing his retirement from international cricket, Yuvaraj had made it clear that he won’t be playing in the IPL-2020, thus stating that IPL 2019 will be his last. He was subsequently released from Mumbai Indians after last year’s auction.
Though he received hefty contracts from the franchises, he had to wait for nine years before putting his hand on the IPL trophy. He won the title with Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016, after their amazing performance in the competition. With his growing age, his performances witnessed a dip, and he had gone unsold in the first round of IPL Auction 2019. Mumbai Indians, however, signed him later and the fan-favourite, Yuvraj Singh won the IPL trophy once again.
Yuvraj Singh played for Toronto Nationals in Global T-20 Canada 2019. He also won the T-10 League 2019 with the Maratha Arabians. Generally, BCCI does not allow the contracted Indian players to take part in foreign T-20 leagues but Yuvraj got a No Objection Certificate from the board to participate in the Canada and Abu Dhabi tournaments. Seeing the former Indian cricketer in an international league had already raised speculations about his retirement from the Indian premier league.
It was later found out that the BCCI grants this certificate only after a player announces his retirement from international cricket and IPL, thus confirming all the speculations.
Hence, the Man of the Tournament of ICC World Cup 2011 is not eligible to play in IPL 2020. And sadly, for a million fans, he will not feature in any of the forthcoming IPL tournaments as well.
-Abigail Gretel Soares