Former India cricketer Yuvraj Singh will always be revered name in the history of cricket. He played a crucial role in India’s victory at the 2007 World T20. Yuvraj did not stop his heroics and was instrumental in making India win the 2011 World Cup where he was named the man of the tournament. However, it was later revealed that Yuvraj had cancer and will have to take some time off for treatment.

His career was never the same as Yuvraj came in and out of the team. In an interview, Yuvraj talked about his selection in the team and it came about. He said that captain MS Dhoni had no choice but to pick him as he was performing well and Suresh Raina was not in great touch.“The Australian coach at that came to me and had asked if there was a fibre behind my behind and asked if it was legal. Has the match referee checked it? So I told him to get it checked. Even Gilchrist asked me like who used to make our bats,” Yuvraj said.

“So match referee had also checked my bat. But honestly, that bat was very special for me. I have never played with a bat like that. That one and the 2011 World Cup bat, there were special.”“Suresh Raina had a larger support then because MS used to back him. Every captain has a favourite player and I think Mahi really backed Raina at that time. Yusuf Pathan was also performing well at that time and even I was doing well and was also picking wickets. And Raina was not in a good touch then. They did not have a left-arm spinner at that time and I was picking wickets so they did not have any choice.”

On his retirement announcement during World Cup 2019

“A lot of things were going on through my mind at that time. Out of choice, I felt that the WC has started and the team has moved on. I wanted to play some cricket outside India. My life wasn’t moving forward. Had been married for 2-3 years and I wanted to focus on my life and I felt a bit burdened at the end of my career. So I thought if I have to play leagues outside India, I’ll have to retire. So I thought it was the perfect time to hang my boots.”

Yuvraj Singh wanted to play World Cup 2019

“Yes, I wanted to play the WC 2019. Didn’t feel good when I missed out on the 2015 edition as I was scoring heavily in the Ranji trophy back then. but there were a lot of factors which I can’t put in words. Before the 2019 WC, I was 37 years old and a lot of things didn’t go in my favor. I thought I should be thankful for the amount of cricket I have already played rather than ruing missing out on another WC. I’m glad that I retired at the right time.”

On pressure on Virat as captain

“Earlier there were only two formats so it was easy for a captain to manage. If the load on Virat is more than maybe they should try a different captain for the shorter formats. Rohit has done a fairly good job. I don’t really know. They have to decide that how much workload Virat can take. It completely depends on how they want to go for the future. It is completely team management’s call.”

On pressure on Virat as captain

“Earlier there were only two formats so it was easy for a captain to manage. If the load on Virat is more than maybe they should try a different captain for the shorter formats. Rohit has done a fairly good job. I don’t really know. They have to decide that how much workload Virat can take. It completely depends on how they want to go for the future. It is completely team management’s call.”