Reason behind omission of Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina from ODI squad to face South Africa
When the Indian selectors picked the 17-member team for the ODI leg of the South African tour, it was quite surprising to see batsman Shreyas Iyer getting the nod for the series despite his exploits in the recently-concluded series against Sri Lanka where he scored two fifties in three matches.
At the same time, discarded Indian batsmen Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh were omitted from the side yet again. This time, despite the veteran duo clearing the YoYo test with flying colours, the main obstacle for them of late.
Unfortunately, they didn't get picked in the Indian limited-overs side because of their form and lack of match practice going into a big series. Yuvraj played just one match in the Ranji Trophy for Punjab as he was more focused on clearing the YoYo test.
"With Yuvraj Singh, there were also the fitness issues. I am happy that he has cleared that fitness test. Since he has not played cricket for quite some time, let him have a good match time. We will definitely see him in the times to come," said MSK Prasad after the squad for the T20I series against Sri Lanka was picked.
Just like Yuvraj, Raina gave the test on multiple occasions before clearing it last week. But, unlike the all-rounder, Raina played all the matches for his side Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy but unfortunately suffered a pale patch throughout the season.
In the 12 innings he played this season, the dashing southpaw managed just 105 runs at an average of 11.66 with his highest score being just 33, numbers that don't warrant a frontline batsman a place in his stateside, let alone the national side.
With the likes of Shreyas, Dinesh Karthik, Manish Pandey, and Kedar Jadhav fighting for a place in the middle order, it is highly unlikely that the Indian fans will get to see either Yuvraj or Raina in the national colours in the near future.