Former India cricketer Yuvraj Singh criticized team India’s performance in the ICC events. India hasn’t won any ICC trophy since 2013 and has faded miserably in the knockout games. There has been a lot of discussion and arguments, regarding the topic, particularly after the ICC ODI Cricket World Cup 2019.
As the ICC T20 WC and the ICC ODI WC are vital upcoming events, the discussion from the past has again been set in motion. Analyzing India’s staging, Yuvraj said that the lack of specialized middle-order batters is one of the crucial reasons India has struggled at the ICC events.
The constant chop-and-change did not help the team, in the 2019 CWC, stated Yuvraj. “When we won the World Cup (2011), we all had a set position to bat.” The ‘Player of the Tournament’ from CWC 2011 furthermore added, “I felt 2019 World Cup; they didn’t plan it well.”
Recalling the Ambati Rayudu issue, Yuvraj said: “They got Vijay Shankar to bat at (number) 4 with just 5-7 ODIs, then they replaced him with Rishabh Pant, who had played 4 ODIs. When we played the 2003 World Cup, Mohammad Kaif, (Dinesh) Mongia, and I had already played 50-odd ODIs.”
T20 cricket is taking over everything- Yuvraj Singh
Yuvraj, talking in an interview on ‘Home of Heroes,’ the Sports18’s newest show, asserted, “Our middle-order (batters) in T20 bat higher in franchise cricket. That is where we lacked in the last T20 World Cup.”
Discussing the hardest format of the game, the former left-arm all-rounder said, “Test cricket is dying. People want to watch T20 cricket; people want to play T20 cricket. Why would someone play five-day cricket and get five lakh rupees and today play T20 cricket and get 50 lakh? Players who have not made it to international cricket are getting 7-10 crores.” the 40-year-old added.
Moreover, “You watch a T20 game and then watch a 50-over game; it looks like a Test match now. After 20 overs, they are like, ‘There are 30 overs to bat! So, definitely T20 is taking over everything,” said Yuvraj.
Written By Prachi Pisal
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