Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina still fit for comeback

The Indian squad announced for Sri Lanka series is missing the names of two southpaws Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina. Hence, the familiar question has once again popped up. Will they be able to make a comeback into this side? According to Saba Karim, former national selector, both Yuvraj and Raina can come back into the contention if they stay fit.

Yuvi was a part of the squad that travelled to England for the Champions Trophy and West Indies for the ODI series. But he looked woefully out of form and was neither at his fittest best. On the other hand, Raina has not been donning the India colours from January since the T20I series against England. As per the reports, both the left-handers failed the fitness tests and hence, were not considered.

Former Indian team trainer Ramji Srinivasan believed that the selectors might not have dropped the player based only on the fitness results. “The Yo-Yo test is done to assess the aerobic fitness of an individual. However, it is not just that one aspect that decides a player’s fitness levels. There are many other tests that are done to measure the strength, flexibility, speed, power, agility, core strength etc. I don’t think the BCCI would drop or remove somebody just based on the report of one test,” Ramji, who was the trainer of India’s World Cup winning squad in 2011, told Times of India.

Saba Karim, a former India cricketer, believes that both of them can stage a comeback but also added that they need to stay fit and perform in domestic cricket to be in contention. “We have seen many greats make a comeback. There is no reason why both Yuvraj and Raina can’t,” Karim said.

He also felt that Raina is working hard and preparing himself to play in all formats. “From whatever information I have gathered about Raina, he has been training hard and he is also attending a conditioning camp with his state side. Going by these, it seems he wants to play all formats and not just T20s,” said the former wicketkeeper.

Yuvraj and Raina are match-winners

While Yuvraj was dropped from the ODI squad, Raina hasn’t been considered at all in 50-over format since October 2015. But former chairman of selectors, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, was upbeat about their return to the International cricket soon due to the match-winners tag they carry with them. “In any format you need match-winners. And there is no doubt about the fact that they are in the shorter formats of the game. This is probably a trial-and-error team looking forward to 2019 World Cup and these two guys may well get a look-in later,” he said.

Indian team is looking forward to a hectic home season which includes mostly limited-overs format of cricket. The selectors have already mentioned that they will try out a few players keeping in mind the 2019 World Cup. So the possibility of both the left-handers returning to the squad cannot be counted out. Though, they will need to perform now in whatever limited opportunities they get.