India Chairman of Selectors MSK Prasad has confirmed the fact that veteran batsman Yuvraj Singh hasn’t been dropped. The southpaw has been rested keeping in mind the bigger tours to come. Yuvraj is rested, not dropped. We’ve started a policy where a set of players will be given chances for next 4-5 months,” Prasad was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
Yuvraj hasn’t been in the best of forms off late and has failed to convert his starts into big hundreds. After making a comeback earlier in the year in the bilateral limited overs series against England, Yuvraj looked in fluent rhythm from the outset. He smashed a career best 150 in the 2nd ODI and shared a memorable partnership with Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
His performance started going downwards from the next series onwards as Yuvi failed to score on a consistent basis. In the Champions Trophy, he played a brilliant knock in the opening match against Pakistan but as the tournament progressed his performance took a downward slide. He was also included in the ODI squad that toured West Indies and he failed to make an impact in a series which India eventually ended up winning by a 3-1 margin.
Meanwhile, not only Yuvraj, many senior players were rested and even Rishabh Pant who is hogging the limelight in the recent past with his whirlwind knocks has also been rested. As per the statement made by Prasad, they are pretty keen on giving a set of players, an X number of matches so that the best team can be singled out before the 2019 World Cup scheduled to be held in England and Wales.
Suresh Raina who has been impressive in the recent past and looked a certainty to be recalled for the squad was omitted for yet another time. The inclusion of Kedar Jadhav though remains a mystery as he has hardly had anything to do with the bat.
MSK Prasad said: “Yuvraj Singh is rested, not dropped. We’ve started a policy where a set of players will be given chances for next 4-5 months.”