Yuvraj Singh can be a game changer for India in 2015 World Cup - Muttiah Muralitharan

Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh, the star of many memorable Indian wins, has silenced his detractors with dazzling half-centuries in back-to-back IPL 2014 matches against Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils. The two-time World Cup winner has been struggling to find his touch ever since coming back from his battle against cancer, and, add the hefty price of Rs. 14 crore to it, he was subject to severe criticism in the past couple of months after his match losing knock in the finals of the T20 World Cup 2014.

His Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate Muttiah Muralitharan, who gave a couple of crucial breakthroughs with his intelligent bowling in the last match against the Daredevils, was very much confident in Yuvraj and his abilities to make many match-winning contributions for India when the team defends its World Cup crown in 2015 at Australia.

“He(Yuvraj) is a great limited overs player, but his confidence was low. After the World Twenty20, the whole country put a lot of pressure on him. I know the situation well as I played for 20 years at the highest level. I knew it was just a matter of helping him regain his confidence,” Muralitharan told IPLT20.com, speaking about the talented left hand batsmen.

He also added, “I was sure once he did that, he would be a different player. And after the way he has performed in the last two games, it seems I was right. I honestly think Yuvi has still got it and India should look after him because I feel he will play a big role in the 2015 World Cup. He will be India’s match-winner there.”

When asked about his own performance, Muralitharan became very modest in his replies.

“It’s not like before, but I was lucky today. All the boys bowled well too. It is very hard to defend scores on this ground, and I thought we all did very well,” he said. “I don’t know, maybe it’s God’s gift. I just keep working and trying hard to maintain my game and play whatever little while I still can,” he said, when queried about how he manages to get continued success well past his retirement.

On Daniel Vettori, who is now the coach of Royal Challengers, Muralitharan said it wasn’t the first time that he was dealing with coaches who were younger than him.

“A few times, actually when I played for a few teams in West Indies, there were many coaches younger to me, and some of the guys I played against at the international level are now coaches. I still love playing the game and want to enjoy it a little more by playing in these T20 leagues,” he said.