IPL 2019: Top 3 unexpected picks at the auction.

The fever of the Indian Premier League has started.The auction concluded in Jaipur and all the teams walked out pretty satisfied with what they had bought in the 6 odd hours. In limited amount, the teams have built up their sides strength to strength. Each side looks complete, like every other year. But which team goes on to be more successful is something we will know only in March. With teams fighting it out for their shortlisted players, it was a very competitive auction to say the least.

There were many West Indians picked this time around, due to their availability throughout the season. Indian pacers also had an ask at the auction, with teams indulging into bidding wars to procure their services. At the end of the auction, every team looks complete on paper, but the strength will be up on display in March end in 2019 when these teams take the field.

Teams had laid out their strategies and went about accordingly. But, during the course of the auction, there were some unexpected players who got a place in the sides. Here are those names which were quite unexpected buys.

#3. Lasith Malinga

The pacer from Sri Lanka made a comeback into one of the teams this year, after going unsold in the previous auction. Surprisingly, Mumbai Indians decided to give away the only slot for overseas player available to Lasith Malinga, despite having an army of fast bowlers already. Mumbai have replaced Malinga, who was their bowling mentor last year with Zaheer Khan and thus Malinga will play on field. He has had some injury and fitness issues in recent years.

Even after those issues, filling him into the only overseas spot that Mumbai had empty, seems like a mistake and was completely unexpected. However, this mistake could potentially bring in some great rewards if Malinga is successful in delivering goods. The Sri Lankan was bought on the back of a single bid from Mumbai for his base price of 2 Crores.

#2. Sarfaraz Khan

Sarfaraz Khan will be playing for KXIP in 2019

After three years at RCB, the under performing middle-order batsman, Sarfaraz Khan was finally released by the Bangalore franchise. RCB was showing faith in him consistently but Sarfaraz was not able to deliver the goods. Last year, to balance the costs of retention, he was the third retention for RCB. However, after an almost pathetic season, the chances of Sarfaraz getting picked again were next to none.

But Kings XI Punjab shocked most by picking him for 25 Lakhs. Punjab seemed to have followed Bangalore here. Khan will have to prove his potential this time at least so that he can be seen in some team next year too. This is clearly the do or die season for Sarfaraz. He will have to score at least 200-250 runs across the season, so that he remains within the radar of the teams when the next auction is around.

#1 Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh, the rockstar of Indian cricket till end of the first decade of this century, just saved his IPL career this time at the auction. After a ridiculous season at KXIP in 2018, everyone thought that Yuvraj Singh might not be a part of the next season. This IPL is very important for Yuvraj to atleast be in contention for the World Cup 2019 squad. But, the first round of the auction threatened his goals of entering the contentions as he went unsold.

Yuvraj will wear the blue and gold this time in the IPL

He was recalled for the second time in the auction later in the day. This time too there were no bets placed, till the very end where Mumbai lifted their hand just when the auctioneer was about to drop the hammer.

This first bid was also the last bid and Yuvraj was bought by Mumbai Indians for his base price of 1.5 Crores. This takes Yuvraj Singh's career into yet another IPL team after having been part of another 5 teams before this.

This time, Yuvraj carries that pressure of having a break-out season to continue being a part of the IPL. Yuvraj's inclusion was an unexpected one for the upcoming IPL. But now that he is included, it is completely in his hands to improve his chances of getting into the Indian team.