Yuvraj Singh passes massive statement on Ambati Rayudu and India’s No.4 batting spot after semi-final exit from 2019 Cricket World Cup
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Former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has expressed his disappointment on the way the Indian Cricket Team think tank handled the middle order, especially the No.4 spot during its 2019 Cricket World Cup campaign.
Following Team India’s semi-final loss versus New Zealand and consequent exit from the World Cup, numerous experts of the game, including former Indian Cricket players have questioned the team’s tactics in handling the middle order, especially in the semi-final match.
Now, Yuvraj Singh has also joined the list and has empathised with the recently retired batsman Ambati Rayudu, who received multiple selection snubs from the Indian squad from the World Cup.
What did Yuvraj Singh comment?
Expressing his concerns at India’s No.4 conundrum, Yuvraj Singh, in an interaction with Times of India, was of the view that Team India should have persisted with someone at No.4, and groomed him well enough despite failures in a few matches.
Reminiscing India’s 2003 World Cup campaign, the Southpaw mentioned that his team had back then too, failed to deliver during the series against New Zealand before the marquee tournament. But, despite that the Sourav Ganguly led team went on with the same team for the World Cup.
“The team management should have groomed someone. If someone was failing at No. 4, the team management should have told that player that he was going to play the World Cup. Like in the 2003 World Cup, we were playing New Zealand before the tournament, everybody was failing. But the same team played in the World Cup,” Yuvraj told TOI.
“Disappointing to watch what they did to Rayudu”- Yuvraj
The 37-year-old felt really disappointment on what the management did to Ambati Rayudu on denying him a berth in the 15-men Indian squad, despite a couple of injuries marring the team during the campaign.
“It was disappointing to watch what they did with Rayudu. He was in the contention for the World Cup. He got runs in New Zealand but after three or four bad innings, he got dropped,” Yuvraj added. “And then Rishabh (Pant) came in and he got dropped. If No. 4 is a crucial position in ODI cricket, if you want someone to do well in that position, you will have to back him. You can’t drop someone if he is unable to do well all the time,” he told.
It is worth mentioning that Rayudu could not make it into the squad despite players like Shikhar Dhawan and Vijay Shankar (who was picked in place of Rayudu in the first place) getting ruled out due to injuries. The management in fact, faced a lot of flak when the uncapped ODI batsman- Mayank Agarwal was called in as Shankar’s replacement in the side.
