Was Very Disappointed With What Happened With Ambati Rayudu: Yuvraj Singh

Former India batsman Yuvraj Singh has come down hard on Indian team-management for their poor strategy at the World Cup. India bowed out of the competition at the semifinal stage after losing to New Zealand. The Men in Blue’s recent woes with the middle-order once again came back to haunt them as the Virat Kohli-led failed to live up to their favourites tag.

Just days before the start of the tournament, Indian team-management surprisingly decided to drop Ambati Rayudu and try out Vijay Shankar at the crucial number four spot. The move did not pay off as Shankar failed to impress before being ruled out of the competition with an injury. He was then replaced by Rishabh Pant but he too failed to deliver.

Yuvraj Singh unhappy:

Yuvraj Singh, who was himself hoping for a place in India’s World Cup squad, slammed the team-management for getting it ‘completely wrong’ at the World Cup. The World Cup-winner said that an inexperienced middle-order worked against the team’s chances. He opined that India lacked clarity when it came to picking a middle-order for the big tournament.

“I don’t think they were looking for me (middle-order spot). More than me not being there, I was very disappointed with what happened with Ambati 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,” Yuvraj Singh told Aaj Tak.

“When we were going to play the 2003 World Cup, the team that played the tournaments in the lead-up, we almost played with the same team. We had decent experience, me and Mohammad Kaif played about 35-40 games. Our top-order was highly experienced and the middle order was decently experienced,” he added.

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