Kolkata: Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh is considering comeback plans and if everything goes well, the dashing left-hander could be seen in T20s for Punjab next season. “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,” Yuvraj was quoted as saying to Cricbuzz.
“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.” Yuvraj announced his retirement from cricket last year.
The 2011 World Cup Player of the Tournament spent a fair bit of time in the last few months working with the young Punjab quartet of Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh and Anmolpreet Singh at the PCA Stadium in Mohali at the behest of the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA). It was during that period that, almost sub-consciously, he was sucked back into the vortex of playing.
Due to lockdown, Yuvraj hasn’t been able to train as much as he would have thought to spend more time playing golf and tennis once the restrictions were lifted. “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. Mr 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, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to take up the offer,” Yuvraj admitted. “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 Mr 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.”
“The motivation is to help Punjab win championships. Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh), myself, we have won tournaments, but we haven’t done it together for Punjab, so that was a big factor in my final call,” the dashing left-hander pointed out. “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.”
Yuvraj also has also written to BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah, seeking permission t come out of retirement. He has played for Toronto Nationals in the Global T20 in Canada in August last year, and for Maratha Arabians in the Abu Dhabhi T10 League last November. Recently there were reports Yuvraj’s manager has been in talks with the Big Bash League franchises for the upcoming edition.
“As things stand now, I will be playing only T20s if I get the nod,” Yuvraj observed. “But who knows, let’s see.”
