England captain keeps selection doors open ahead of T20 World Cup
The English summer begins with the 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy on Saturday, giving domestic players the chance to play themselves into the plans for the T20 World Cup squad.
Former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh slammed the Indian team management for getting it “completely wrong” at the 2019 World Cup, stressing that an inexperienced middle-order worked against the team’s chances where Virat Kohli and boys were shown the door in the semi-final against New Zealand.
Speaking at Agenda AajTak, the World Cup winner said India lacked clarity when it came to picking a middle-order that could have complimented the quality top-order.
Yuvraj Singh questioned the team management’s thinking behind picking ‘inexperienced’ players in Vijay Shankar and Rishabh Pant for middle-order roles at the World Cup.
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“I don’t think they were looking for me (middle-order spot). More than me not being there, I was very disappointed with what happened with Ambati Rayudu. He was our number 4 batsman for more than a year. Even in New Zealand, in the last game, I think he got 90 and won the Man of the Match. And then you’re playing Australia and going to the World Cup,” Yuvraj Singh said.
“When we were going to play the 2003 World Cup, the team that played the tournaments in the lead-up, we almost played with the same team. We had decent experience, me and Mohammad Kaif played about 35-40 games. Our top-order was highly experienced and the middle order was decently experienced,” he said.
But this wasn’t the case this time and as a result, despite India being one of the favourites to win the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, India faced a defeat in the semi-final match against New Zealand.
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