Sandeep Patil terms Yuvraj Singh as a 'God's gift' to Indian cricket

Former India cricketer Sandeep Patil has showered praises on Yuvraj Singh, who currently finds himself out of favour of the Indian selectors. The 61-year-old the valiant warrior as a ‘God’s gift’ to Indian cricket while pointing out that Yuvraj’s selection in the 2019 World Cup squad will depend on his form and fitness.

It should be taken into notice that Yuvraj Singh was not included in the limited overs series against Sri Lanka. Following the upset, he has also been left out of the first three ODIs against Australia which is scheduled to kick off on 17th September in Chennai. Though chief selector MSK Prasad had mentioned that Yuvraj’s omission is due to the board’s new rotation policy and their wish to try out the young prospects, many believe that Yuvraj Singh’s poor form and fitness resulted in his chopping.

What Patil had to say:

“It’s fitness and form,” said Sandip Patil.  “I am not the selector now. Two years is too long a period and the kind of injuries you have seen, there is too much workload on each player.” added Patil.

“Yuvraj was like a God’s gift, I have been his ardent fan and I will remain an ardent fan of Yuvraj. But he has to put runs on the board and he has to prove his fitness.” Patil said.

Sandip Patel termed Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a special player and mentioned that the legendary batsman had a major role to play in the 5-0 whitewash against the Sri Lankans. Patel mentioned that he would have considered himself lucky if he possessed even 5% of the skill Dhoni and Yuvraj has.

“It will be looked after by the professionals, who are working with the Indian team, so it will be wrong on my part to say what is going to happen with Dhoni, Yuvraj. But they are special cricketers, I wish I had even five percent of what they (kind of talent) have,” added Patil.

Patil who led the Indian selection committee from 2012 to 2016 seemed extremely happy with the progress of Indian cricket. “We had a very difficult task of replacing players such as Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and get these youngsters. Somewhere, in my mind, I am very happy that the bold decisions which we took are giving tremendous results.” he said.

“Indian team is at the top now, they are in top form, they are in top fitness, the combination, everything is going right. But, if you look at the history of cricket, about every 10 years things changed. Patil concluded.