Yuvraj impacts Indian group the board for World Cup ouster
Yuvraj impacts Indian group the board for World Cup ouster

Yuvraj Singh on Tuesday strikes the Indian team administration for the country’s World Cup ouster in the semifinals, saying its preparation for the 50 over a game was “completely wrong”.

Pre-tournament favourites of India went into the World Cup without deciding the number four place, and it affected the team as Virat Kohli’s men made a semifinal departure.

“In this World cup, they let go (Ambati) Rayudu and then they had Vijay Shankar, who had some hurt and then Rishabh Pant came in. I have no grudge against them, but both played only five ODI games, I mean how do you expect a guy with such fewer experience to win big matches,” Yuvraj questioned.

“My issue is what the think-tank was undertaking. Dinesh Karthik was going through the game, and suddenly he plays the semifinals, and a guy like MS Dhoni is batting at no 7. It was all hotchpotch. You can’t do that in such big tournaments, and you have to be sure.”

Yuvraj impacts Indian group the board for World Cup ouster

“Your No. 4 batsman had a maximum score of 48, so I thought the planning was really poor because they thought that Rohit, Virat is in the good arrangement, but teams don’t win like that. If you look at Australia, if you look at 2003, 2011, 2015, they had set batsmen, so I thought the preparation was completely wrong.”

Rayudu was reserved for India’s number four slot after some fine performances in Asia Cup last year. However, he was dropped from the World Cup squadron following a usual series against Australia at home.

Yuvraj, who had declared his retirement from international cricket in June this year, was saddened with the way the team management handled Rayudu’s case in the lead up to the World Cup.

“I was very saddened with what happened with Rayudu. He was our No. 4 batsman for more than a year. Even in New Zealand, in the last game, I think he got 90 and earned the Man of the Match. And then you’re playing with Australia and going to the World Cup,” he said.