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Yuvraj Singh out to turn back the clock in new home

As Yuvi walked down the iconic stairs from the home team's dressing room, glimpses of that historic 2011 ICC World Cup final night flashed through his eyes.

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Indian batting legends Sachin Tendulkar (Centre), Sourav Ganguly (Left) and Mahela Jayawardene chat at Wankhede on Saturday; (right) Yuvraj Singh
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On the day Mumbai Indians moved their base to Wankhede Stadium last week to prepare for the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League, some pleasant memories of April 2, 2011 crossed the mind of their new recruit Yuvraj Singh.

As Yuvi walked down the iconic stairs from the home team's dressing room, glimpses of that historic 2011 ICC World Cup final night flashed through his eyes.

"Brings back 2011 memories. That's the first thing that comes to my mind. Good memories. Probably the best memories," replies Yuvraj when asked by a MI media team member about memories of the Wankhede.

The stylish southpaw is born and brought up in Chandigarh, but Mumbai is his second home. And he seems to have found solace in the franchise based in the financial capital, which will begin its IPL campaign this season against Delhi Capitals here on Sunday.

"I've been living in Mumbai for 10 years (and have) finally got this opportunity. Hopefully it goes well this year," he says in an interview to the MI social media channel.

MI brought the 37-year-old star for a steal at his base price of Rs 1 crore after he went unsold in the first round of the IPL auction in December last year, with his former team Kings XI Punjab releasing him after a poor IPL-11.

"Many players go unsold," Zaheer Khan, MI's director of cricket operations, said during a press meet last week.

"I've been unsold myself in the first round. Auction dynamics make you do that. Yuvraj Singh has been a boost to the side. We needed an experienced batsman who controls the game in the middle. Who is better than Yuvraj Singh to do this?" he added.

Yuvraj has been one of the most traded players — six teams — in the IPL. From being an icon player for Kings XI Punjab in the first year to being one of the biggest players to be sold at a base price, Yuvraj has seen it all. He has been the most expensive player bought in the auction: Rs 15 crore by Delhi Daredevils in 2015 and the most expensive Indian at Rs 14 crore by Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2014.

The franchise-based league can sometimes be unfair to even the biggest superstars of international cricket, considering the demanding nature of the tournament. And Yuvraj, the man who has been one of the greatest Indian cricketers in limited-overs with some envious records, has been one of its major victims.

For the kind of swashbuckling batsman that he has been, Yuvraj has not delivered according to the wish of the owners thus far in the IPL.

But, even as the sun is setting in Yuvraj's glorious career, he will be keen on delivering this time around for his new franchise and show glimpse of his old self.

"I didn't have a great IPL last year, so I am really looking forward to this one because I want to go all guns blazing and I am working hard towards and once you feel that, you know automatically good performances will surely show up," Yuvraj says in the interview.

And what better stage than a game against his former employers, Delhi, in his new home on Sunday night. If he makes it into the playing XI, that is.

SQUADS

  • MUMBAI INDIANS: R Sharma, J Behrendorff, J Bumrah, R Chahar, B Cutting, P Jaiswal, I Kishan (wk), S Lad, E Lewis, L Malinga, M Markande, M McClenaghan, A Milne, H Pandya, K Pandya, K Pollard, A Roy, R Salam, Y Singh, A Singh, B Sran, A Tare, S Yadav, J Yadav, Q de Kock (wk)
     
  • DELHI CAPITALS: C Ingram, M Karla, P Shaw, S Rutherford, S Dhawan, S Iyer, A Mishra, A Khan, B Ayyappa, H Patel, I Sharma, K Rabada, N Singh, S Lamichhane, T Boult, A Patel, C Morris, C Munro, H Vihari, J Saxena, K Paul, R Tewatia, A Bains, R Pant
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