Yuvraj Singh Making All Efforts to Participate In the 2019 World Cup

Yuvraj Singh, the left-handed all-rounder from India, who last played for his country over a year ago is looking to take part in the 2019 ICC World Cup.

Cricket news: He has been away from the international scenario for over a year now

Yuvraj has seemed to be in good touch on Monday while playing for Punjab against Karnataka during the Vijay Hazare Trophy. The match was attended by very few supporters, but when they saw the veteran batsman come out to bat, they started cheering for him.

After a very cautious start, he started using his own flair of batting as he started to deposit the balls into the stands and did that with ease and grace, like the way he used to do during his international days.

Yuvraj last played for his country back in June 2017, when he was recalled after missing out from the ODI side for more than three years.

He returned and scored his career-best 150 in the second game at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. He went on to score 372 runs from 10 ODIs with an average of 41.33 and a strike rate of 98.67. He was also awarded the Man of the Match trophy during a match against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy where he scored 53 off just 32 deliveries.

“When I am hitting the ball out of the park at will, and not having that fear that I am going to get out, that is when I am feeling good. All my cricket has been fearless. Obviously, you have to see the situation and play accordingly. But when I start hitting the ball out of the park and doing that consistently, then I feel that I am in a good space,” he said.

Yuvraj, who is two months away from his 37th birthday, is looking great in domestic cricket and is all ambitious to play in the 2019 World Cup. However he is also aware of the fact that his selection to the team is not under his control.

“My decision to make is that I want to go happily playing the game. I didn’t have a good domestic season last year, I had a bad IPL. I took a break and I thought that if I am looking to play another year or two years, I want to go playing this game happily because this game has given me everything,” he said while speaking to Cricketnext.

He is keen to turn around his career as he finds himself in good mental space. “I didn’t have too much good (batting) practice before coming here, I just played one practice game against Madhya Pradesh. But I just felt mentally very good. I felt that I was fitter, I was stronger compared to last year, when I was not in a good mental space. The key for me has always been to be in a good mental space, that’s when I have played good cricket. Let’s see what happens now,” he said.

Since being overlooked for the Sri Lanka ODI series in August-September 2017, Yuvraj has been unable to find his place even as Kohli’s India struggle to find a permanent middle-order member. The Player of the Tournament in 2011 World Cup is now determined to give 2019 World Cup a final shot.