Yuvraj Singh’s dream of playing the 2019 world cup may be over but the gutsy cricketer is geared up to play the cricket still left in him in the coming days to come. The 37-year-old who is currently plying his trade with Mumbai Indians in the ongoing Indian Premier League season said that his fellow team-mate Hardik Pandya will be crucial for India in the world cup.
The Baroda man has been surrounded by controversies after he was ruled out of the Australia ODI series, earlier this year, after the BCCI barred him for playing cricket following his sexist comments on chat show Koffee with Karan. He later missed the home limited overs series against Australia in February-March owing to injury which changed the fortunes of Vijay Shankar.
Post the injury, the junior Pandya has risen to the occasion and notched 394 runs in 15 matches for Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians and has chipped in with 14 wickets. Pandya has often handled the role of a finisher for his franchise side which clearly depicts in his strike rate of 194.
Yuvraj Singh asserted that Pandya will be effective in the world cup as the rule of placing four fielders outside the 30-yard circle between 10-40 overs will help the all-rounders who can contribute with ball as well with the bat.
“It’s a five-fielder rule and part-timers don’t get away with that kind of bowling, it’s going to be tough to bowl the sixth bowler,” NDTV sports quoted Yuvraj as saying.
“But if you go with five (frontline) bowlers, then you know somebody has to bowl four to five overs maximum. If somebody is not bowling well, then someone has to chip in,” he added.
Yuvraj’s all-round efforts in 2011 world cup won him the man of the tournament award and if Hardik can take the right inspiration from the veteran of over 300+ ODIs, then India will be out there with a big chance to win the top prize.
