Yuvraj Singh was reportedly dropped for the Sri Lanka series because he failed a key fitness test. (Source: AP File)
Virender Sehwag, who came very close to being appointed as India’s head coach before Ravi Shastri was officially nominated, believes Suresh Raina or Yuvraj Singh can play a crucial role alongside Mahendra Singh Dhoni in situations of a top order collapse. He further reasons that the youngsters need more time to gain experience and deliver in crucial games such as the target of the 2019 World Cup in England.
“If the top-order fails, then either of these two, batting with Dhoni, could be very useful,” said Sehwag to Times of India and then reasons: “The youngsters need a lot of time to gain experience.” He also thinks most of the team – 13 out of 15 players – have already been picked for the World Cup.
Sehwag further added that the team won’t be able to test and experiment all the time. The team captained by Virat Kohli has that luxury right now because they are playing a “weak” Sri Lanka team. That would however not be the case when Australia visit.
“The best players should play and look to win the series. The more series you win, your ranking stays healthy,” Sehwag said. “The upcoming limited overs series against Australia is a very important series. It shouldn’t be used to just find a core group. Virat can certainly experiment against Sri Lanka because he knows they are not a strong team.”
“If Yuvraj was indeed rested (for Sri Lanka series), they need to rest a few more players in the coming series so that their words look genuine. They don’t need to preserve ODI specialists. The more Bumrah plays the better he will get.”
Sehwag also hit out at selectors for questioning Dhoni’s importance to the team. The former India captain Dhoni has proved detractors wrong with two match-winning knocks in Sri Lanka to take the side to victory in 2nd and 3rd ODI. “Selectors should give Dhoni the assurance that he should be playing till the 2019 World Cup. The alternatives could be tried after the next World cup,” he added.
