IPL 2016: Snubbed by Royal Challengers, Yuvraj Singh seeks to redeem himself with Sunrisers Hyderabad

Yuvraj Singh has been nothing short of an enigma when it comes to the Indian Premier League. The icon player of Punjab in the inaugural 2008 edition has since then played for 5 IPL teams in the 8 editions of the tournament. The stylish southpaw spent three seasons with Punjab, and two with the now defunct franchise Pune Warriors India. Although his IPL numbers till 2014 didn’t inspire much confidence, egged on by new skipper Virat Kohli’s insistence, the Royal Challengers setup threw the kitchen sink to snap Yuvraj at a whopping Rs 14 crore.

What transpired then is a little bit of mystery. The Royal Challengers, despite assembling the impressive ensemble of Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli and Yuvraj, came up a cropper with a 7th position finish. Yuvraj was offloaded for the following season. But no one could actually point out to any compelling reasons for the offloading of Yuvraj, who had his best IPL season with the bat, finishing with 376 runs at an average of 34.

And it wasn’t that his peers at RCB could achieve greater things either. Yuvraj was the second highest scorer for the team in the season, just behind De Villiers and ahead of Virat Kohli and Gayle. Besides, Yuvraj had five wickets with the ball to show as well. If one can forget the price tag, Yuvraj had served his new owners decently well. Yet, he faced the axe and was picked up by the Delhi Daredevils the following season.

Cut to 2016, and Yuvraj Singh, again with a new franchise in the Sunrisers Hyderabad, seems to have reinvented himself. Having missed out the first leg of the tournament due to the injury that kept him out of the World T20 Semis, Yuvraj has infused new life in the David Warner led side. He came good on a difficult Kotla track on Wednesday scoring 44, laced with eight boundaries and a maximum to propel his side to a challenging 162. Yuvraj then came back to run Colin Munro out with a direct hit that proved to be match turning.

One game away from facing his former team

His 190 runs at an average of 27 tells only a partial story. The Indian has not only contributed with vital knocks in the middle order but has also been an unmissable presence on the field, effecting crucial run outs. A top heavy SRH batting lineup that looked thin in the middle has been visibly bolstered by Yuvraj’s coming to form. Not only this, but Yuvraj also gives Warner a spinning option, whose scarcity is stark in a team that has relied completely on its pacers.

After knocking Kolkata out in the eliminator, Hyderabad have only Gujarat Lions to beat to set up a clash with Yuvraj’s former team in the finals. While RCB are on a roll with 5 victories on the bounce, Hyderabad have shown that they’re no pushovers and have the bowling to squeeze the life out of Bangalore’s famed batting lineup.

On the backdrop of the big battle, the contest will also pit Yuvraj against the team that offloaded him unceremoniously. Whether Yuvraj would be able to make the best of this shot at redemption that only time will, but knowing the left hander’s fondness for the biggest stage, one can be sure that he would be itching for a big one and would definitely relish a Bangalore attack that’s light on spin.