Tour Of Sri Lanka Has Been A Waste For India - Former Batsman Yajurvindra Singh Slams BCCI For Hurting The 'National Pride And Prestige'
Published - 30 Jul 2021, 07:06 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 05:47 PM
Former India cricketer Yajurvindra Singh opined that BCCI’s decision to send a second-string outfit for an international series against Sri Lanka degraded the essence of a national side.
India won the ODI series 2-1 but lost the T20I series by the same margin – that after they lost several players to covid forced isolation. In a helpful gesture, the BCCI agreed to send an Indian team to Sri Lanka to help out the SLC recover losses due to the pandemic.
Yajurvindra Singh, however, isn’t pleased with this act of the governing body thrusting young IPL stars into international cricket. He felt that the “national pride and prestige” is at stake in international matches and the board had damaged it Sri Lanka registered their first-ever T20I series win over India.
“The idea of India sending two teams, one to England to play the Test series there and the other to Sri Lanka for limited-overs series was actually demeaning to the very essence of a national side. Performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL) is a good indicator to unearth talented cricketers, but international cricket is an entirely different ball game,” Yajurvindra Singh was quoted by News18.com.
“The tour of Sri Lanka, involving three ODIs and equal number of T20Is, has been a waste for India. The whole exercise was a goodwill gesture by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to help Sri Lankan cricket board which is struggling financially.
“One appreciates being nice to one’s neighbour and to assist them in their hour of need, but one has to realise that national pride and prestige is at stake.”
Rahul Dravid too fell victim to the system: Yajurvindra Singh
Yajurvindra Singh, who featured in 4 Tests for India between 1977 and 1980, was disappointed seeing the tour head coach Rahul Dravid also “fell victim to the system” for making a number of changes in the third ODI after India had won the series by winning the first two ODIs.
Dravid had earlier claimed that they will always be fielding their best eleven and giving opportunities to inexperienced players wasn’t their priority. But for the third ODI six changes were made – five ODI debut caps were handed – including dropping of Deepak Chahar, the Man of the Match in the second ODI.
“He (Rahul Dravid) too fell victim to the system by making changes. One felt that he failed to understand that this was not an India A side but an India senior side and that every match is important as it goes down in cricket history. A defeat will be documented for years to come. Furthermore, the successful players who were benched for no fault of theirs could have established themselves as certainties especially in such a competitive scenario,” the 68-year-old former batsman stated.
