I Wanted To Play World Cup 2019, BCCI Was Not True To Me: Yuvraj Singh

Former Indian all-rounder and 2011 World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh has said that he wanted to play the ICC World Cup 2019 and made startling revelations about the treatment meted out to senior players like Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan. In an interview with private Hindi news channel Aaj Tak, Yuvraj Singh said that the BCCI made him go for the Yo-Yo test at the age of 36, thinking he would not be able to clear that and it would be easy to decline him afterwards.

"Never thought that I would be dropped after being the man of the match in 2 games out of the 8-9 I played after the CT 2017. I got injured and I was told to prepare for the SL series. Then suddenly, the yo-yo test came into the picture. It was a u-turn in my selection. Suddenly, I had to go back and prepare for the yo-yo test at the age of 36. Even after I cleared the yo-yo test, I was told to play domestic cricket.

"They actually thought that I wouldn't be able to clear the test due to my age. And that it would be easy to decline me afterwards...yeah you can say it was an exercise in making excuses," he told the channel.

The ace all-rounder had brought down curtains on his career by announcing retirement from the international cricket on June 10. 2018. Singh, the hero of India’s 2011 World Cup triumph, played 304 ODIs for India and scored 8,701 runs at an average of 36.55. In the 58 T20I matches he played for the country, Yuvraj Singh scored 1,177 runs at an average of 28.02.

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Yuvraj accused the Indian team management of not giving proper retirement to senior players. He said that even players like Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan were also treated by the board in the similar manner.

"No one told me and no one told Virender Sehwag or Zaheer Khan either. Whichever player it is, the person who is in-charge should sit down and talk with the player that we are looking at the youngsters and we've taken this step," he said.

Speaking about the announcement of his retirement while the world cup was still going on, Singh said that he did wanted to play but a lot of things were against him and he was not selected in the team.

"Yes, I wanted to play the WC 2019. Didn't feel good when I missed out on the 2015 edition as I was scoring heavily in the Ranji trophy back then. but there were a lot of factors which I can't put in words. Before the 2019 WC, I was 37 years old and a lot of things didn't go in my favour. I thought I should be thankful for the amount of cricket I have already played rather than ruing missing out on another WC," he added.