India’s 2011 World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh announced his retirement from international cricket on June 10, 2019.
Yuvraj at the press conference said in Mumbai, “After 25 years, I have decided to move on. Cricket has given me everything and is the reason why I stand here today”.
The 37-year-old has now alleged that the India team management tried to hasten the end of his playing days for the national team.
In a recent interview with Aaj Tak, Yuvraj stated that no one sat down with him and conveyed the team’s plans to him.
The southpaw revealed that he was taken aback after he was not selected for the Indian team despite passing the mandatory yo-yo test.
“Never thought that I would be dropped after being the man of the match in 2 games out of the 8-9 I played after the CT 2017. I got injured and I was told to prepare for the SL series. then suddenly, the yo-yo test came into the picture,” Yuvraj said.
“It was a u-turn in my selection. Suddenly I had to go back and prepare for the yo-yo test at the age of 36. Even after I cleared the yo-yo test, I was told to play domestic cricket. They actually thought that I wouldn’t be able to clear the test due to my age. And that it would be easy to decline me afterwards.. yeah you can say it was an exercise in making excuses.
Yuvraj also said he was not told by the selectors before being dropped and blamed the Indian cricket culture for not bidding a proper farewell to even some of the greatest of the games like Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, who according to the former all-rounder, were given a similar treatment like him.
“I think it was unfortunate for a guy who has played 15-17 years of international cricket to not being made to sit down and being talked to. No one told me and no one told Virender Sehwag or Zaheer Khan either. Whichever player it is, the person who is in-charge should sit down and talk with the player that we are looking at the youngsters and we’ve taken this step.
This way, you do feel bad at the beginning but at least you give them the credit of being true to your face – something which doesn’t happen in Indian cricket. It has been like that forever almost. I have seen it happen to big names. Took it personally then but not now as there is a time for everything to move on and I have made my peace with it,” concluded Yuvraj.
