5 reasons why Yuvraj Singh's omission is justified
After the Indian squad for the ODI series against Sri Lanka was announced, there was a lot of unrest among the fans after they did not find the name of Yuvraj Singh on the list. Yuvraj has been dropped yet again and only time will tell if this is the end of the road for him.
However, the Chairman of the Selection Committee, MSK Prasad certainly didn’t think so.
"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," he said in a recent press conference.
"Then after that period (4 to 5 months), we'll know who are in contention for 2019 World Cup. Doors are not closed on Yuvraj and (Suresh) Raina, but we are laying down strict parameters for fitness for 2019 WC. Anyone who fails this fitness parameter will not be considered," he added.
It will, however, be an uphill task for Yuvraj at this ripe age of 35 to claw his way back to the team. But was his exclusion from the squad warranted?
Here are 5 reasons why we think his omission was justified.
#5 Poor form
Ever since his return, Yuvraj Singh has been largely inconsistent with the bat. There was, of course, the splendid 150 at Cuttack and the half century against Pakistan in the Champions trophy to show but he has been far too inconsistent.
Yuvraj was always brought in to add some experience in the middle order. He was also the only batsman who could tee off and go after the bowlers after getting his eye in quickly. But the experiment seems to have failed.
Ever since his return, Yuvraj has scored 372 runs in 11 ODIs at an average of 41.33. In T20Is, he has scored 209 in 18 matches. Apart from those two innings, Yuvraj has not scored a single half-century in any of the remaining 9 ODIs.
His last 3 scores against the West Indies of 4, 14 and 39 did not help his cause. His big-hitting did not always come off as expected. And on top of that, he has become a liability on the field because of his sluggishness.
It was just a matter of time that the selectors took a decision on him due to his poor form.