If Yuvraj Singh, who was adjudged the Man of the Tournament at the 2011 World Cup, finally comes back, he is likely to play only the T20 format for Punjab.
Yuvraj Singh file image. (Photo: Kuntal Chakrabarty/IANS)
Swashbuckling former Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh, who retired from competitive cricket in 2019, has decided to make his comeback to play for Punjab in domestic T20 competition. And, confirmation about his comeback can come on Thursday, informed the Punjab Cricket Association secretary Puneet Bali.
“I don’t have any official confirmation yet [from Yuvraj]. I was the one who had requested him to reconsider his retirement because I wanted his mentorship of young kids. I am likely to get the official confirmation by tomorrow [Thursday],” IANS quoted Bali as saying on Wednesday evening.
Yuvraj has reportedly written an application to Sourav Ganguly to seek the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s permission to represent Punjab in domestic cricket. “Initially, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to take up the offer,” Yuvraj was quoted as saying by ‘Cricbuzz’.
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“I was done with domestic cricket, though I did want to continue to play in other domestic franchise-based leagues worldwide if I got permission from the BCCI. But I also couldn’t ignore Mr Bali’s request. I gave it a lot of thought, for nearly three or four weeks, and it was almost as if I didn’t even have to make a conscious decision in the end,” he added.
Yuvraj, who will turn 39 in December, had called it a day from all form of cricket in June last year after representing India for the last time in 2017. A versatile all-rounder of his time, the player of the tournament in ICC World Cup 2011 represented India in 40 Tests, 304 ODIs, and 58 T20 Internationals between 2000 and 2017.
Yuvraj has been working with a few youngsters from Punjab — Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh, and Anmolpreet Singh at the PCA Stadium in Mohali – for some time. In Punjab’s off-season camp, he played in a few practice matches and it was at that point that Bali, according to reports, requested him to come out of retirement and guide youngsters.
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