Yuvraj Singh to take a call on his cricket career after 2019

Yuvraj played his last ODI game against Windies in June 2017 and last featured in the T20I squad against England in February last year. His career faced many ups and downs as he made a comeback after winning a fight against cancer but the with new faces making appearances in the Men in Blue his chances of being picked in the Indian team have been reduced drastically. However, for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League, he was snapped by Kings XI Punjab. Yuvraj understands the significance of the T20 tournament for his career and stated that it will help him in deciding his further career moves.

"I am looking forward to a good IPL. It's a very important tournament for me as it will only set me to play cricket till 2019. I am looking to play cricket till 2019, whatever cricket I get to play and take a call after that," Yuvraj said as quoted by PTI.

Yuvraj featured in 40 Tests games for India scoring 1900 runs at an average of 33.92 including three centuries and 11 fifties. While he always was a good limited-overs player, he could never cement his place in the Test side and the 36-year-old registered his disappointment for the same.

"Definitely, in the first 6-7 years of my career when I was at my best, I did not get a lot of opportunities because there were such great players in the (Test) team and when I got an opportunity I was diagnosed with cancer. So that regret will always be there but these things are never in my control. I am just looking forward to whatever cricket I get to play," the all-rounder said.

Last year, under Kohli’s captaincy, India showed brilliant run of form in all formats of the game. People considered the South Africa tour as the real test for the team. Despite losing the first two Tests, the team bounced back in the limited-overs series and registered a 5-1 win in ODI and a 2-1 victory in T20I series. And Yuvraj, who failed to make a cut to any of the teams, believes that it was a great performance by the team.

"I think it is a pretty great performance. They showed a lot of character after losing the Test series. It was as a hard-fought Test series could have gone either way. But it was a very convincing win in the ODI series. Kohli led from the front with some big runs," the left-handed batsman added.

"Spinners bowled very well especially Kuldeep (Yadav) and (Yuzvendra) Chahal and got South Africa into trouble. And then they stepped on the gas and won the T20 series 2-1. Going abroad playing three series winning two definitely shows India's dominance."

Kohli has been rested for the Nidahas Trophy tri-nation T20I series, considering the tough overseas tours of England and Australia. India have a good opportunity to prove their dominance in the overseas conditions and Yuvraj suggested the Indian players to work on their consistency to achieve the target.

"It's a good start to believe that you can dominate outside. If you can consistently do that in England and Australia you definitely will have the belief," he said.

"Now the team is set to conquer the world. England and Australia will be testing series but if we can get some consistent performances it will give a lot of self-belief to the players."

Yuvraj’s style, experience, and dedication towards gamehas inspired many youngsters to take up cricket as their career. Now, he has reached the position where his advice can guide the young players like Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill, who will feature in the upcoming IPL as well.

"The more they get better the more money they will earn. So they don't have to worry about money. They have to focus on how quickly they can do better and play for India," he said when asked about the Indian Under-19 cricketers.

"I think Prithvi, Shubman, Abhishek Sharma are great talents and hopefully in the next coming years, we will see them play for India. I am sure the IPL will give them a great platform to learn from other international players and feel the hype of international cricket. So it's very important tournament for them and they should enjoy it," Yuvraj said.