Last Updated on 5 years by Charbel Coorey
After announcing his retirement from international cricket in June 2019, Yuvraj Singh is on track for a comeback to domestic cricket.
Confirming his plans to Cricbuzz, he said, “I enjoyed spending time with these youngsters, and talking to them about various aspects of the game, I realised that they were able to pick up various things that I was telling them. I had to get into the nets to show them a few other elements, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well I was hitting the ball even though I hadn’t held a bat for a really long time.”
“I also trained for those two months, and then I started to bat in the off-season camp. I made runs in some of the practice matches. Puneet Bali, the secretary of the Punjab Cricket Association, approached me after one of the sessions and asked me if I would reconsider coming out of retirement.”
Initially, Singh wasn’t sure about taking up this offer. “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 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 said.
The Player of the Tournament at the 2011 World Cup participated in three T20 World Cups and one Champions Trophy in 2017. He also notched his highest ever ODI score against England at Cuttack in January 2017, by scoring 150 runs in that encounter.
Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh have brought quite a few trophies back when they were representing the Punjab state. “We have won tournaments, but we haven’t done it together for Punjab, so that was a big factor in my final call,” he added. “Obviously, Shubman is already playing for India, and I feel there’s plenty of potential in the other three boys. If I can contribute in any way to their development and to the development of Punjab cricket, then that will be wonderful. After all, playing for Punjab is what paved the way for my international career.”
Written by Anjali Jha. Follow Anjali on Twitter today.
