5 Indian batsmen who might miss out on 2019 World Cup
Moving towards the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, all teams are gearing up and setting up cricketing tours, preparing schedules in order to give good exposure to their players, leading towards the big tournament. India, as we know, are playing England at the latter's home turf and so far, has done exceptionally well, beating the hosts 2-1 in T20Is and are leading 1-0 in the 3 match ODI series.
What one sees in India's current ODI side is a bunch of players who are nearly-certain to be part of India's squad for the 2019 World Cup, which is less than a year away. However, there are a few players who are hopeful of a call-up to the World Cup but might not be able to make it. Here are five such batsmen:
#1 Yuvraj Singh
India's veteran all-rounder and once a standard number four batsman without whom Indians couldn't imagine the national side, Yuvraj Singh is now far from the player he used to be. He seems to have lost the ability to play long innings and his timing of the cricket ball, too, seems to have been lost.
He has made the confession several times that he wants to play for India one last time in the 2019 World Cup, but looking at the way he has been batting in the last few months, he doesn't seem to be one of the probables for any Indian side in the near future.
Scoring just 65 runs in a total of eight IPL games this year, that too with and average of 10.83 and at a strike rate of less than 90, is indicative of the disheartening fact that this has been, undoubtedly, his worst ever season of IPL.
While he did hit sixes and fours, mostly just one in each innings, before getting dismissed cheaply, his highest score this season was a mere 20.
He surprised many with a 72* off 36 against Pakistan in a T20I in early 2013 in Ahmedabad, following a lack-lustrous 34 off 26 on his comeback after battling Cancer, against New Zealand in a T20I. However, he could not take that form and momentum to the succeeding matches, and similarly, after an out of the world match winning 77* off 35 balls against Australia at Rajkot, while chasing 202 in 20 overs in late 2013, he failed to take his form ahead and score well.
He got opportunities in the 2014 and 2016 World T20s as well, but he was unsuccessful in performing up to his own standards.
The last and final opportunity was given to him when he was chosen to replace KL Rahul in the Champions Trophy 2017 squad, where again, he won a lot of hearts after smashing 53 off just 32 balls in the very first match against Pakistan, but then failed to make a mark in any of the remaining matches. Yuvraj has to come to terms with the fact that it is over for him in International Cricket.