New Delhi, Dec 17:
Yuvraj Singh today slammed the Indian team management for the country’s World Cup ouster in the semifinals, saying its planning for the 50 over tournament was “completely wrong”.
Pre-tournament favourites India went into the World Cup without settling the number four spot and it affected the team as Virat Kohli’s men made a semifinal exit from the marquee event.
“In this World cup, they dropped (Ambati) Rayudu and then they had Vijay Shankar, who had some injury and then Rishabh Pant came in. I have nothing against them but both played five ODI games, I mean how do you expect a guy with such less experience to win big matches,” Yuvraj questioned.
“My issue is what the think-tank was doing. Dinesh Karthik was going through the tournament and suddenly he plays the semifinals and a guy like MS Dhoni is batting at no 7. It was all hotchpotch. You can’t do that in such big matches, you have to be sure.
“Your No. 4 batsman had a highest score of 48, so I thought the planning was really poor, because they were thinking that Rohit, Virat is in good form but teams don’t win like that. If you look at Australia, if you look at 2003, 2011, 2015, they had set batsmen, so I thought the planning was completely wrong.”
Rayudu was earmarked for India’s number four slot after some fine performances in Asia Cup last year. However, he was dropped from the World Cup squad following an ordinary series against Australia at home.
Yuvraj, who had announced his retirement from international cricket in June this year, was disappointed with the way the team management handled Rayudu’s case in the lead up to the World Cup.
“I was very disappointed with what happened with Rayudu. He was our No. 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,” he said. (PTI)
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