Yuvraj Singh: MS Dhoni doing well, but Sourav Ganguly favourite captain
Yuvraj Singh, the chief architect of two World Cup triumphs for India, has picked Sourav Ganguly as his favourite captain ahead of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and others. In an interview to the Indian Express, when asked to chose one among the captains he has played for, the 32-year-old picked the man under whom he debuted in the year 2000.
“My favourite captain was Sourav Ganguly. I learnt a lot from him and my career flourished under him the most. He infused the feeling in us that we could win a series abroad. Gary Kirsten was a great coach. I excelled while he was the coach,” Yuvraj said.
Notably, Yuvraj cemented his place in the side in the one-day format with Ganguly at the helm. After winning the captain’s trust with an impressive 84 (80) against Australia in his first international tournament – the ICC Knockout Trophy (later known as the Champions Trophy) – Yuvraj’s career went upwards as he became one of the prominent members of the side that won many laurels in the 2000s.
Conditions were tough to bat in 2014 World T20 final
The champion cricketer always goes about his innings with authority and aggression even under immense pressure and against the best bowling attacks. However, when the left-hander struggled to get going (11 off 21 balls) in the all-important final of the World T20 held in Bangladesh this year, Yuvraj’s house was stoned by some agitated fans.
The player claims that the conditions were not aiding strokeplay on that night and says he gave it all for his team.
"People came down heavily on me after the final. But they did not give credit to the Sri Lankan bowlers for performing well. The conditions were tough to bat, the ball was not coming onto the bat so well. I know this that I tried hard," claimed the Chandigarh-born cricketer.
No regrets on missing out on captaincy
Yuvraj Singh was touted to be the front-runner for the leadership role along with Virender Sehwag once Rahul Dravid resigned from the post in 2007. However, the selectors bestowed faith on Dhoni’s capabilities and the Ranchi lad has held his own with impressive showings.
Under Dhoni, India won the ICC World T20 (2007), ICC World Cup (2011) and held the top spot in the ICC Test rankings for a brief span before suffering back-to-back whitewashes in England and Australia.
"When it comes to the selection process, that is left to the selectors. I do not think about selection or anything related to it. My job is to do well and work towards excellence," said Yuvraj on whether he has any regrets on missing out on the top job.
No need to sack MS Dhoni as captain
Despite the team not doing well in away tours, the player who enjoys a friendly relation with his skipper, feels that there is no obvious reasons to remove the World Cup winning captain from the top post in any format of the game. The Royal Challengers Bangalore star also ruled out the need to have different captains for different formats.
"I think Dhoni is doing the job quite well at the moment. He has been instrumental in many India wins. He is fit enough to do the job in all three formats, then why make the change. He has done a commendable job when it comes to captaining India," Yuvraj said.