"Yuvraj Singh walked past me when I had expected him to join in" - R Sridhar on when Yuvraj chose not to train with Virat Kohli
Yuvraj Singh is arguably one of the best all-rounders India has produced in white-ball cricket. He wasn't just brilliant with the bat and the ball, but also on the field where he gave his hundred percent.
During his prime, Yuvraj was one of the best fielders in the world, and naturally, former Indian fielding coach R Sridhar would have been excited to have high-intensity sessions with the World Cup winner.
In his book 'COACHING BEYOND: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team', R Sridhar narrated an incident that took place in 2016 just before the start of India's T20I series against Australia. He was a bit surprised to see Yuvraj Singh not participate in Sridhar's fielding drill with Virat Kohli.
Here's what he wrote:
"We were training at the Adelaide Oval in January 2016, the day before the start of the three-match T20I series against Australia. I was putting Virat through the grind and, typically, he held nothing back. Yuvraj Singh walked past me when I had expected him to join in and sat himself down in the dugout, watching us intently."
R Sridhar on what Yuvraj Singh told him about Virat Kohli
After Virat Kohli's practice session was done, Yuvraj Singh himself came to Sridhar and accepted that Kohli's intensity was higher than his and that he wanted to practice 'at his own pace'.
On this, Sridhar stated:
"Once Virat had left the field for a few minutes later, Yuvi came across for his practice. He told me, ‘I couldn’t have kept pace with Virat or matched his intensity. I thought it best that I leave you guys to it and once he finished, I can work on my fielding at my own pace."
Sridhar was amazed to see how much Yuvraj knew about his body when he saw him take a fantastic catch in the first T20I the next day. On this, he said:
"I could see where he was coming from. The next day Yuvi held a blinder at short cover off Hardik Pandya to get rid of Chris Lynn. There is something to say for practicing at one's own pace, I guess."
India may find it very difficult to produce a player with the match-winning ability of Yuvraj again.