Emotional decision or not, Yuvraj Singh needs to be included in the Test side

As the world focuses on CLT20, Yuvraj Singh has used the Duleep Trophy to roar back into First-class cricket. Arunabha Sengupta says that even if guided by emotion, it may be a good move to include him in the Test team.

 

 

As the world focuses on CLT20, Yuvraj Singh has used the Duleep Trophy to roar back into First-class cricket. Arunabha Sengupta says that even if guided by emotion, it may be a good move to include him in the Test team.

 

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As the world continues to focus on the hit-and-giggle extravaganza of the Champions League Twenty20, Duleep Trophy trudges along its own course. And Yuvraj Singh continues to script new chapters in the course of an ethereal comeback.

 

True, the arena may be devoid of glamour with major stars engaged in more ‘important’ outings in South Africa. The opposition bowling, if not exactly ordinary with the likes of Praveen Kumar, Ritu Raj Singh and Murali Kartik, was by no means really spectacular.

 

Hence, Shikhar Dhawan’s uncanny consistency in scoring hundreds may not be given too much importance by the men that matter. And the same fate may befall Yuvraj’s aggressive double hundred, an unbelievable return to First-class cricket after a victorious battle with cancer.

 

Are Duleep Trophy performances important?

 

It is with intriguing nonchalance that out-of-form stars have chosen CLT20 ahead of Duleep Trophy, or have used the period as an opportunity for rest and repose. It leads one to wonder whether the tournament carries any weight at all other than the associated academic value.

 

Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag have failed with unerring consistency during the last year and more. There seems to be plenty of room for stability and quality at the top of the order. Whether there is room enough for Dhawan to squeeze past the formidable names is a different question, and the answer will be awaited with plenty of interest as the new selectors draw up their first line up.

 

What about Yuvraj?

 

One agrees that he has never really justified his place in the Test side in spite of numerous opportunities. Flashes of brilliance have always been followed by sequences of slipshod performances.

 

But, now, when the unforgiving hand of time has scooped out enormous amounts of experience from the middle-order, does India need the southpaw as a balancing bridge between youth and maturity?

 

While Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli have given indications – the latter quite serious ones – of settling into two of the vacated slots, the one remaining place continues do with quick fixes. Suresh Raina has not really set the Test centres on fire, and neither can the Test match form of the left-hander be gauged as he continues to bat for Chennai Super Kings.

 

The argument against Yuvraj may be that he has missed his bus. With India looking at younger and fitter men, someone pushing 31 is hardly an investment for the future.

 

Yet, it is reasonably well known that batsmen often mature after thirty. Such was the case with Dilip Vengsarkar and Mohinder Amarnath, who became performers of a completely different class after they crossed that landmark birthday. Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman – all had some of their most profitable patches after they were no longer the rising young stars.

 

Yuvraj may yet have a few promising years ahead of him, and it may not be in the best interest of Indian cricket to ignore the present by focusing steadfastly on the distant future.

 

Besides, if the performances of the man are anything to go by, the battle with cancer seems to have provided him with brand new zeal.

 

There is no doubt that a journey to the brink of death can be a transforming experience. By all indications, for Yuvraj it has been a new birth – a rejuvenation. There is a palpable sense of purpose in him, an eagerness to make every moment count.

 

There is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the flood leads on to fortune, and Yuvraj seems settled on the crest of that positive wave at this moment.

 

Choosing him in the T20 side was an emotional decision, and the man did not disappoint. It may be the way to go in Test matches as well. Some transcendental magic may have filtered into his Test temperament as well.

 

The cream of Indian cricket participating in CLT20 ahead of the England and Australia Test series, and the decision of several others to give Duleep Trophy a miss are clear symptoms that there is something drastically wrong with the cricketing heads governing the proceedings.

 

In this context, a decision prompted by the heart can go a long way.

 

(Arunabha Sengupta is a cricket historian and Chief Cricket Writer at CricketCountry. He writes about the history and the romance of the game, punctuated often by opinions about modern day cricket, while his post-graduate degree in statistics peeps through in occasional analytical pieces. The author of three novels, he can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/senantix)

 

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