Target is World Cup, but will play till I have a passion for the game: Yuvraj Singh
Although he has been out of action for the national team for quite some time now, Yuvraj singh does not want to end his cricket career so soon. The left handed all-rounder wants to play the game as long as he keeps enjoying it.
"I enjoy playing cricket and it was always my passion as a young kid. So, as long as I am enjoying it, I want to play. If I get an opportunity to come back and play for India, I would look forward to that. But these Ranji trophy matches will give me an opportunity to come back so I am giving my best into it.”
The all-rounder from Punjab hopes to play in the next T20 World Cup next year. He said, “I am not looking from the point of view of the World Cup, whether it’s 50 overs or 20 overs, World Cup is a World Cup. i just want to concentrate on Ranji Cricket now and take it from there.”
Talking about the effect of Sachin Tendulkar in his life, Yuvraj said how in one of their conversations, Tendulkar told him the importance of enjoying the game before anything else.
"It's just that passion to play. I was speaking to Sachin last year and he said that, obviously the most important thing is to play for India but enjoying the game is more important. As young kids, we always played the game to enjoy it. We never knew that we were going to play for India someday." He added.
Yuvraj has been a regular part of the Indian team until he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2012. He returned back strongly after being picked by the selectors to be a part of the 15-member Indian squad for the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in September that year.
Notably, Singh was one of the five senior players who were not considered for the 2015 World Cup and was not included in India's 30-man probables for the tournament after performing wonderfully in the 2014–15 Ranji Trophy. Singh scored three centuries and finished with 671 runs in 7 matches with an average of 55.91.
Currently he is the captain of the Punjab Ranji team, which is in Mumbai for their match against the home team. The visitors have won their first match against Railways comfortable and would look to replicate the same against Mumbai.
They will be missing the services of batsman Gurkeerat Singh Mann, who scored an unbeaten 201 in the last match for the Punjab team, due to his selection in the Indian squad for their first One day international against South Africa.