Indian players can't take break like Glenn Maxwell in fear of losing their place, believes Yuvraj Singh

Just last week, Glenn Maxwell joined Will Pucovski in the list of Aussie cricketers taking a break from international cricket to deal with mental health issues, with Cricket Australia’s (CA) backing. With the level of intensity at the highest level of the sport continuously on the rise, players, who are after all human beings just like us, are right in taking a break. However, Yuvi reckons the same isn’t true for Indian players, who are constantly under the threat of being replaced. 

"We see outside India, if players are fatigued and tired mentally, like is the case with (Glenn) Maxwell, he has taken a break because he is feeling it. Our players can't do that because they fear they may lose their place. So a players' association is very important," Yuvraj told PTI.

The southpaw, who retired from international cricket to play in private leagues earlier this year, welcomed the formation of the Indian Cricketers' Association as mandated by the Supreme Court-appointed Lodha committee.

"We deserve it. Because there are a lot of times we have been asked to play cricket that we don't want to. We have to play with the pressure that if we don't play we will be thrown out. That pressure has to go off the players that even if they are tired or fatigued or carrying injuries, they have to play. That support should be given to the players," Yuvraj said.

He further added that he expects BCCI’s functioning, under Ganguly, to cater to the needs of the players first, instead of merely listening to the administrators, which used to be the case earlier.

"I see great things happening to Indian cricket with Sourav as president. Cricket, from the administration point of view, and the cricketers' point of view are two different things," he said.

"Someone, who has been a very successful captain, will run cricket from a players point of view where cricketer's concerns can be heard. It would not happen earlier. They would make decisions and cricketers were not heard. Now he will listen to what cricketers want," Yuvraj added.