IPL 2019: Retirement After IPL? Yuvraj Singh Answers Question On His Future
Mar 25, 2019 at 10:31 AM
All eyes where on Yuvraj Singh when Mumbai Indians welcomed Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. The southpaw, one of India’s greatest-ever match-winners, entered the competition on the back of some dismal batting displays in the last one year or so. Unsurprisingly, his international career is completely off the track now.
Yuvraj last played for India during the tour of West Indies in 2017. He then failed to do well in domestic cricket as well as last year’s IPL. Playing for Kings XI Punjab last year, the World Cup-winning star had managed to score just 65 runs in 8 games at an average of just 10.83 and a top-score of 20.Β In fact, the poor show had nearly cost him an IPL deal in the last auction as he had gone unsold in the first round. Mumbai Indians then gave him a lifeline by buying him at his base price of INR 1 crore and on Sunday the southpaw showed that he can very well repay the faith shown in him by the franchise.
.@YUVSTRONG12 barely scores any ugly runs. He is tonight's FBB Stylish Player of the Matchπ #CricketMeriJaan #MumbaiIndians #OneFamily #MIvDC pic.twitter.com/Px4PRVRIkj
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) March 24, 2019
Yuvraj scored a fighting fifty against Delhi Capitals. He rolled back the clock with his 35-ball 53 runs knock including 5 fours and 3 sixes although his effort eventually went in vain. Chasing an improbable 213, Mumbai Indians were all out for just 176.
Speaking at the end of the game, Yuvraj said that losing wickets at regular intervals hurt the chase.
“Losing Rohit (Sharma) early (was one of the reasons). (Quinton) de kock was doing well but we lost his wicket. (Kieron) Pollard came and quickly lost his wicket. We really couldn’t get partnerships going. Had we got 20-30 (run) partnerships, we could have got more close to the game. The wicket was more of 180-190 run wicket, 213 was quite a match-winning score and Delhi has got really good bowling,” Yuvraj Singh pointed out.
The @DelhiCapitals begin their #VIVOIPL season on a winning note. Beat #MI by 37 runs at the Wankhede.
Scorecard – https://t.co/Swbbz2f1mP #VIVOIPL #MIvDC pic.twitter.com/EpcvOEjoLs
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 24, 2019
Speaking about his own knock, Yuvraj Singh said:
“I took my time there. The wickets were falling and I thought if I take chance early, we (don’t) want to end getting close to the game, so I just took my time. I am happy with the way I was hitting the ball.”
V I N T A G E Y U V R A J S I N G H ππππππ#CricketMeriJaan #MumbaiIndians #OneFamily #MIvDC @YUVSTRONG12 pic.twitter.com/56BYupIVo8
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) March 24, 2019
The discussion soon moved towards his retirement. In the twilight of his career, Yuvraj is looking unlikely to make another comeback to the Indian team. He, however, revealed he’s not thinking of retirement just yet despite his up-and-down form.
“When the time comes, I will be the first one to hang up my boots. I spoke to Sachin (Tendulkar) as well and he has gone through such a time at 38-39. Talking to him makes things easier for me. In the last two years, I have been up and down. I started playing cricket because I enjoyed the game and then I was not playing for Indian. It was U-14, U-16, so till the time I enjoy, I will play,”Β said the star batsman.