Former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh recently talked about the Indian team where he questioned the ability of the present batting coach Vikram Rathour in the T20 cricket. He also revealed that he felt demotivated during his tenure for the IPL team Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and opened up his shock over the Indian team selection for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
In last August, Vikram Rathour became the batting coach of the Indian national cricket team after the end of Sanjay Bangar‘s tenure. Rathour, who represented the Indian team in six Tests and seven ODIs between 1996 and 1997 and retired from the playing career in 2003, didn’t experience the recognised T20 cricket. Yuvraj has the doubt on Rathour’s ability to guide the players in T20 cricket.
Yuvraj said during a recent Instagram live, “He (Rathour) is my friend … do you think he can help players of this T20 generation? Has he played cricket at the level to help them?”
Yuvraj Singh, who retired from the international cricket in last year, feels that the coaches have the responsibility to work with the players according to their respective personalities.
When Yuvraj was asked whether the Head Coach Ravi Shastri’s job to guide the players, the 38-year-old said, “I don’t know if Ravi is doing it but maybe he has others things in his hand.
“Anyway, you can’t tell everyone just ‘go out and play your game, express yourself’, this approach may work with someone like Sehwag … but this will never work with Pujara … so these things the coaching staff need to realise.”
I wanted to run away from Kings XI Punjab: Yuvraj Singh
In his 11 years of IPL career, Yuvraj served for the KXIP in four seasons in two different periods. While he started his IPL career for the KXIP that stretched between 2008 and 2010, he returned to the team for the 2018 season. Talking about his KXIP tenure, Yuvraj felt that their team management didn’t like him.
Yuvraj claimed, “I wanted to run away from Kings XI Punjab … the management didn’t like me there … they did nothing I asked them to do … and when I left they bought all the players I had been asking them to. I love Punjab but I did not like the running of the franchise.”
The selection during the 2019 World Cup was shocking: Yuvraj Singh
Yuvraj also questioned the selection process of the Indian team in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. He pointed out how the cricketers got opportunities in the middle-order batting for the World Cup after having only five ODIs experience.
Yuvraj quoted, “The selection during the 2019 World Cup was shocking. You need people to question those decisions when players who have played 5 ODIs are playing in the middle order.
“Can the current selectors question these decisions when they themselves have played only 5 ODIs?”
The all-rounder Vijay Shankar was selected for the no.4 batting position for the ICC CWC 2019, while he had only nine ODIs experiences. The wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant, who replaced the injured opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan during that tournament, later took up the middle-order batting role in that tournament while he only played five ODIs before that tournament.
Also, the uncapped ODI cricketer Mayank Agarwal replaced injured Vijay Shankar during the middle of the ICC CWC 2019. Interestingly, Agarwal was not even in the list of standby players while better experienced Ambati Rayudu was completely ignored for that tournament.
Yuvraj Singh also mentioned that the final of the ICC World T20 2014 was one of his worst days in cricket career. In that final, Yuvraj disappointed with his batting by scoring only 11 runs off 21 balls and Sri Lanka won that match by six wickets.