Yuvraj Singh wears Champions Trophy jersey during second ODI against West Indies
Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh has ben enduring a rough phase with the bat, in recent times. The 35-year-old left-hander has made just one fifty-plus score in his last 7 matches and with the likes of Rishabh Pant and others waiting in the wings, it remains to be seen for how long the team management continues to persist with him in the middle order.
However, on Sunday, the cricketer did something unusual, which might not have caught the eyes of those glued to the television.
While all the other Indian team members walked out to bat with their usual jerseys, worn with the official sponsor printed on them, Yuvraj walked out to bat with a jersey that had the Champions Trophy logo printed on it.
Whether the cricketer intentionally wore the jersey in order to change his fortunes with the bat or whether it did not cross his mind is not known yet, but it surely was one of the rarest sights in the game, to see a player wear a jersey, different to that worn by his teammates.
Wearing the different jersey, however, had little impact on his performance as he failed to make a significant impact with the bat, scoring a mere 10-bal 14 as India put up 310 runs on the board, which proved to be too much in the end for the hosts, who fell short by 105 runs.
Yuvraj walked out to bat at the fall of Hardik Pandya’s wicket on Sunday but just could not get going during his stay in the middle, eventually falling to Jason Holder, caught behind by Shai Hope.
Extra Cover: Virat Kohli hints at change in the playing XI for third ODI against West Indies
At the post-match presentation, skipper Virat Kohli indicated that changes could be made for the 3rd ODI at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Friday and whether one of those is swapping Yuvraj with either Rishabh Pant or a Dinesh Karthik, remains to be seen.
Led by Ajinkya Rahane’s century with the bat and Bhuvneshvar Kumar and Kuldeep Yadav’s spells with the ball, The Men In Blue comfortably sealed a 105-run win over the hosts to take a 1-0 lead in what is now, effectively a four-match series after the first game at the same venue was abandoned, on Friday.
Here are the highlights from that game: