Gautam Gambhir : I believe it's difficult for Yuvraj Singh to make a comeback to the Indian side

Yuvraj Singh has endured a roller-coaster ride over the past 6 months as he made a triumphant return to the Indian side with a majestic 150 against England in January, booking a place for himself in India’s Champions Trophy squad. But the 35-year-old now finds himself out of the Indian side following dismal displays in the Champions Trophy and the following tour of the Carribean.

Subsequently, the dashing southpaw was left out of the Indian squad for the ongoing ODI series against Sri Lanka as the selectors chose to ‘rest’ him. However, Yuvraj’s former teammate Gambhir has questioned the selection of words used by the National team selectors.

 “I don’t think ‘rest’ is the right word because he (Yuvraj) hasn’t played any cricket for quite a while and he would be wanting to play. If you want to see him at the World Cup, he should be given the maximum opportunity. Because, someone like Yuvraj, you want him in that flow, you want him in that rhythm. You can’t have someone like him playing in one series and resting thereafter,” Gambhir told Cricinfo.

“So, I feel that it’s difficult now for Yuvraj to make a comeback. Hopefully, he does because he is one of the greats of the game." 

The decision to omit Yuvraj for the ongoing series was taken by Chairman of the Selection Committee, MSK Prasad when the squad was announced last Sunday. However, Prasad said that Yuvraj had not been dropped rather ‘rested’ as a part of a new ‘policy’ which puts a premium on a player’s fitness, but Gambhir did not buy the argument given that Yuvraj had time to rest during the recently concluded Test series. 

Finally, while most people see Yuvraj’s omission as the end of the road for him, Prasad did not rule out the possibility of another comeback for the Punjab batsman but emphasized that strict parameters had been laid down with regard to fitness.