On the day when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to take away his central contract, India’s swashbuckling all-rounder, Yuvraj Singh scored one of the most well-fought domestic hundreds of his career.
In round three of the Ranji Trophy 2014-15 season, Yuvraj Singh started very patiently, waited for the ball to lose its hardness and once that happened, he made Pune’s bowling-attack look very ordinary. His high back-lift was back and he smashed the ball fearlessly around the park.
Punjab were struggling at 54 for 3 when Yuvraj Singh came in to bat. Yuvraj was greeted with some short-pitched bowling by Samad Fallah, but he remained calm and bided his time.
Yuvraj, who hasn’t been in the best of fitness, had opted out of the previous match and there were doubts regarding his availability for this match as well. But Yuvraj, who still believes he can make a comeback, attended the practice session and passed his fitness test.
The last year hasn’t been good for Yuvraj. It started with his forgettable performance in the ICC T20 World Cup 2014 final, and it carried on in the Indian Premier League. Yuvraj has been consistently ignored by the national selectors and he wasn’t named in the 30-man preliminary squad for the World Cup 2015. Many thought that Yuvraj will not have the inspiration and motivation to play this season of the Ranji Trophy, but Yuvraj proved them wrong and now he is fighting it out in the middle in the ongoing season of the Ranji Trophy. His IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore also released him.
Yuvraj smashed twenty-five fours and a six in his innings (136 runs off 160 balls). Yuvraj played some delightful strokes and mesmerized a small audience of around 100 people, in the stadium.
[blocktext align=”left”]In his last three innings, Yuvraj has scored 59, 130 and now 136 runs. [/blocktext]
At the end of the day, it emerged that Yuvraj batted through a throat infection and fever. But Yuvraj showed no discomfort during his innings.
“The ball was doing a lot in the first session. There are days when you nick one and get out but today I was lucky to have survived that period and make it count,” Yuvraj Singh said after the day’s play.
Although, many have written him off after he wasn’t considered for the World Cup 2015, Yuvraj Singh is still trying his best to get back to the international arena. He is working hard for his state team in Punjab in the Ranji Trophy 2015-15, and he has shown some glimpses of return-to-form in his last three innings. It is cleat that Yuvraj Singh hasn’t given up and wants to have another go at playing for India.
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By Karan Devgun
