Yuvraj Singh - Will he be a part of Team India's 2015 World Cup plans?

It’s hard to perceive Yuvraj Singh‘s career graph post the World Cup triumph back home in 2011, and more prominently his return to international cricket after being affected by the deadly cancer cells. We got to resort to the fact that the cancer cells, the chemotherapy, and the process of cancer treatment have all taken it’s toll on one of India’s glorious left-handers.

His heroics in the 2011 World Cup can never go unnoticed. Scoring 362 runs, and picking up 15 wickets was inexplicably pivotal in the way Team India completed it’s goal of winning the World Cup after 28 long years. Out of those 362 runs, the 57 he scored against Australia on the night of the quarter-final went a long way in boosting Team India’s morale and giving them the belief that what they desired could become a reality.

Magnificent innings that

In the semi-final, it was his bowling that did the trick for India when the match was precariously poised, and Younis Khan had just arrived in the middle. Wickets of Asad Shafiq and Younis Khan in two back-to-back overs turned the game on it’s head and once again reiterated the importance of runs and wickets from Yuvraj Singh during that World Cup.

Fast-forward 3 years, and it’s hard to see whether Yuvraj Singh can stake a claim in Team India’s squad for the 50-over World Cup in Australia in 2015. In whatever I’ve seen off him after his return to international cricket, he seems to have become a lot slower in his movements, and the whole package of Yuvraj Singh isn’t functioning completely.

Dismissals that indicate slowing reflexes

When Australia toured India in 2013, Mitchell Johnson gave Yuvraj a demo of where his game had taken a beating after returning to international cricket, and for some reason, Dhoni didn’t quite use his slow left-arm spin bowling in the series either. That brings us to the question of the kind of utility that Yuvraj Singh can render in Australia, which is not known for conducive spin-bowling conditions, and hostile pace and bounce to contend with as a batsman.

Days of Yuvraj Singh fielding at backward point and other key positions on a cricket pitch have disappeared, and it’s not good to see a player, who was once known to take jaw-dropping blinders be protected and concealed from his favourite fielding position. Grounds in Australia are humongous, and you will have to do a lot of running to retrieve the ball and it’s not going to be easy on an ageing body of Yuvraj Singh.

Also, the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu and Cheteshwar Pujara will battle it out for the no.4 and no.5 spots. As things stand, Ajinkya Rahane continues to impress, Cheteshwar Pujara might be given a long run to prove his credentials, and Ambati Rayudu could be retained as a backup middle order batsman. With Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni forming the nucleus of the Indian batting order, it’s hard to forecast Yuvraj’s chances of finding a place as a specialist batsman.

In my opinion, a major part of the squad that was picked for the tour of New Zealand could be persisted with for the World Cup as well, barring a couple of contentious spots in the batting and bowling departments. Suresh Raina has serious odds stacked against him, and maybe someone like Dinesh Karthik could get his place, if he performs in the upcoming Asia Cup, and whatever little chances he may get.

Albeit the patrons of Yuvraj Singh might well disagree with me, the brutal truth is that Yuvraj’s exclusion from the tour of New Zealand and the squad for the Asia Cup could well be an indicator of where he finds himself in the Indian selectors’ minds. But a good IPL season might bring the hard-hitting left-hander back into contention, and it all makes for an intriguing period in Indian cricket leading up to the 2015 ICC world cup.