Winners and Losers from 2015 IPL Auction

The hammer has fallen on the 2015 Indian Premier League player auction, and the squads have been finalised. But who got the high-quality motors, and who got ripped off with an old banger?

Just to recap, there were 344 names on the auction list, but due to 128 players having already been retained by the sides, only 88 spaces were available across the eight squads.

Additionally, of those 88, just 28 could be overseas players with the remaining 60 being Indians. A more comprehensive break down of the stats is available here on ESPNcricinfo.

So without further ado, let's take a look at the winners and losers from the point of view of an individual, an IPL team and even a cricket-playing-country sense, in the 2015 IPL auction.

Winner: Yuvraj Singh

Rajanish Kakade/Associated Press

Team: Delhi Daredevils

Price: $2.67 million

2014 IPL performance: 376 runs from 14 innings at a strike rate of 135.25

Yuvraj Singh will be celebrating Monday after attracting the highest bid in the IPL auction—a snip at around $2.67 million—for the second successive year, per ESPNcricinfo.

Despite only having a steady if not spectacular 2014 campaign, the 33-year-old's all-round skills clearly made him a highly sought-after piece of the Daredevil's jigsaw.

Singh joins the likes of Angelo Mathews and Amit Mishra in a new-look Delhi side that will be desperate to improve on their woeful bottom-of-the-table finish last year.

See also: Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Karthik

Loser: Kumar Sangakkara

Mahesh Kumar A/Associated Press

Price:  Unsold

2014 performance: N/A

In perhaps the day's most surprising twist, despite scoring nearly 4,000 T20 runs across his stellar career, Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara went unsold at the auction.

The classy left-hander, who won the Man of the Match in the T20 World Cup final against India last April, has bags of experience also, but that wasn't enough to tempt any suitors.

The 37-year-old's disappointment is possibly a bonus for Surrey, who have signed the legendary left-hander for the English domestic season. Maybe now he will be available earlier than expected?

See also: Hashim Amla and Mahela Jayawardene

Winner: Sunrisers Hyderabad

Ross Setford/Associated Press

2014 performance: Finished sixth with six wins and eight defeats

True, they had the largest purse of all eight IPL teams, but it looks like the Sunrisers Hyderabad spent their moolah wisely in signing a string of big names.

Kevin Pietersen, Trent Boult, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara and, surely the bargain of the whole auction, Kane Williamson for just $100 thousand all joined the ranks.

This fresh blood, joining the likes of Dale Steyn, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and David Warner, to name but a few, means Tom Moody's men could be a force to be reckoned with.

Loser: Kolkata Knight Riders

Gallo Images/Getty Images

2014 performance: Champions

Their fans will say that they have a strong enough squad as it is, but Kolkata, the two-time champions, were surprisingly inactive at the 2015 auction.

The arrival of veteran Brad Hogg may prove to be a shrewd purchase, but the acquisition of New Zealand's James Neesham is unlikely to get pulses racing.

Also, the decision to spend $400 thousand on 20-year-old spinner Kishan Cariappa, who has yet to play a single first-class game, could be a huge waste of money.

Winner: Australia

Kamran Jebreili/Associated Press

Number of players selected for IPL 2015: 25

Another year, another colossal number of Australian cricketers selected for IPL duty, with 25 proving to be attractive prospects this time around.

Many of the men from Down Under were already retained by their teams, but major benefactors in the auction included Mike Hussey and Aaron Finch.

The next most successful country, barring India of course, was South Africa with 15 successful applicants.

It is hard to measure the gains these fortunate players make, but in terms of experience and the chance to learn from some of the game's superstars, they must be incredible.

Loser: England

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

English players in 2015 IPL: 3

Although it is a slight improvement on last year, just three English players managed to get picked up in the auction, meaning another chance to improve their T20 skills has passed the majority of English cricketers by.

Apart from Pakistan, of the major cricket-playing nations, only Sri Lanka's players proved as unattractive to the IPL bosses with Kevin Pietersen, the sole English representative in the 2014 IPL, being joined by Eoin Morgan and all-rounder Ravi Bopara this time.

Disappointingly, despite being sought-after commodities in the Big Bash League, Michael Carberry and Alex Hales didn't receive a single bid.

For the record, just three of Sri Lanka's players, Angelo Mathews, Lasith Malinga and Thisara Perera, also managed to secure contracts.