Had an idea that I would not be picked in the first round: Yuvraj Singh

Not much has gone right for Yuvraj Singh in the last one year or so. The southpaw was looking set for a fairytale end to his career after blasting a career-best 150 in his comeback ODI series against England last year. A fifty in the first game of the Champions Trophy against eventual winners Pakistan further bolstered those speculations. 

However, things went only downhill after that. He fared poorly in the rest of the Champions Trophy and was soon dropped after another poor outing in the ODI series against West Indies. Since then, he has not even been considered for selection let alone getting a call-back. And the southpaw has done little to bolster his chances. He has looked a pale shadow of his usual self in recent times.

The poor performance nearly cost him an IPL deal this year. The World Cup-winner had gone unsold in the first round despite setting his base price at INR 1 crore. But fortunately, Mumbai Indians handed him a huge lifeline and another opportunity to show that he still has a lot to offer by buying him at his base price.

Yuvi not surprised

While Yuvraj’s form has not been very promising in recent times, it won’t be wrong to say that the cricketing world was taken aback after seeing him go unsold in the first round. However, the southpaw himself was not surprised and had braced up for such a situation.

“There was no disappointment as such because I had an idea that I would not be picked in the first round,” Yuvraj was quoted as saying by Mumbai Mirror. “The reason is obvious, when you are putting together an IPL team, you will be looking at the youngsters. I am at that stage of my career where it could be presumed that I may be in the last stages of my career. I had hoped that there would be a buyer for me in the last round.”

He had a disastrous outing for Kings XI Punjab in the last term where the left-hander managed just 65 runs in 8 games before being released. When asked about the reason, he said that the unsettled batting positions was one. 

“Agreed, that the last season was not great. But the point was I played at different positions in four-five games. I was not given one position to bat. This year I am very keen to make the best of the opportunity that will comes my way,” he opined.

[interaction id=”5c1a0be25e0e5f9eae0027e4″]

~ Written by Bijoy

Get the latest Cricket News and updates from Indian Premier League, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.