5 reasons why Yuvraj Singh's omission is justified

After the Indian squad for the ODI series against Sri Lanka was announced, there was a lot of unrest among the fans after they did not find the name of Yuvraj Singh on the list. Yuvraj has been dropped yet again and only time will tell if this is the end of the road for him.

However, the Chairman of the Selection Committee, MSK Prasad certainly didn’t think so.

"Yuvraj Singh is rested, not dropped. We've started a policy where a set of players will be given chances for next 4-5 months," he said in a recent press conference.

"Then after that period (4 to 5 months), we'll know who are in contention for 2019 World Cup. Doors are not closed on Yuvraj and (Suresh) Raina, but we are laying down strict parameters for fitness for 2019 WC. Anyone who fails this fitness parameter will not be considered," he added.

It will, however, be an uphill task for Yuvraj at this ripe age of 35 to claw his way back to the team. But was his exclusion from the squad warranted?

Here are 5 reasons why we think his omission was justified.

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#5 Poor form

Ever since his return, Yuvraj Singh has been largely inconsistent with the bat. There was, of course, the splendid 150 at Cuttack and the half century against Pakistan in the Champions trophy to show but he has been far too inconsistent.

Yuvraj was always brought in to add some experience in the middle order. He was also the only batsman who could tee off and go after the bowlers after getting his eye in quickly. But the experiment seems to have failed.

Ever since his return, Yuvraj has scored 372 runs in 11 ODIs at an average of 41.33. In T20Is, he has scored 209 in 18 matches. Apart from those two innings, Yuvraj has not scored a single half-century in any of the remaining 9 ODIs.

His last 3 scores against the West Indies of 4, 14 and 39 did not help his cause. His big-hitting did not always come off as expected. And on top of that, he has become a liability on the field because of his sluggishness.

It was just a matter of time that the selectors took a decision on him due to his poor form.

#2 The age factor

One of them needs to go and it seems Yuvraj has taken the axe for now

How many times have we heard the maxim that age is just a number. Well, age does seem to make a difference after all because the likes of Yuvraj and Dhoni are no longer what they were a decade ago.

Time has flowed and the change is discernible. That change in palpable in the demeanour and body language of Yuvraj.

India will have the oldest team which will compete in the World Cup 2019. Skipper Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin will be above 30.

Yuvraj will be 37 and Dhoni over 38 by that time. There was an implicit understanding that the duo can no longer be part of plans going forward – one of them needs to go and it seems Yuvraj has taken the axe for now.

This also seems to be a veiled warning to Dhoni with a lot of promising youngsters waiting in the wings.

#3 No longer a good all-rounder

The thing that might have most affected Yuvraj’s cause was the fact that he is no longer a good all-rounder. If you think of the Yuvraj of old, at the peak of his career, he was a man with the golden arm who could always give the crucial breakthrough.

World Cup 2011 was won largely due to the contributions of Yuvraj who bowled as well as he batted throughout the tournament. He scored match-winning runs in the middle order and gave the team crucial breakthroughs in the middle overs.

Yuvraj the bowler seems to be long gone now as ever since his return, he has hardly rolled his arm over. Looking ahead, a 35-year old who is out of form and inconsistent with the bat, but plays as a pure batsman in the middle order was always going to be a bit of a luxury.

#4 It was a stop-gap measure

Let’s face it. The decision to bring back Yuvraj Singh was at best a stop-gap measure — a quick fix to solve the problems in the Indian middle order. Ahead of the World T20 in 2016, selectors felt that MS Dhoni could no longer be solely relied upon and the middle order was in some serious problem.

The only solution was to go for experience. India also needed a hard-hitting batsman who was also an all-rounder, which is absolutely necessary for T20 cricket. Yuvraj was the right man.

The erstwhile selection committee chaired by Sandeep Patil selected Yuvraj with an eye on the World T20 tournament. Yuvraj made his way into the ODI team, scored a match-winning 150 in Cuttack and thanks to the injury to Manish Pandey, made his way to the Champions Trophy.

One ICC event and another bilateral series to the Caribbean later, the Yuvraj experiment seems to have failed and it was time for the selectors to move on.

#5 The return of Manish Pandey

With Yuvraj out of form and not bowling as well, the real question was if he is still the best batsman to play in the Indian middle order. It’s tough to answer that in the affirmative because there are a huge number of talented young batsmen waiting in the wings for an opportunity.

But among them, everyone knew that Manish Pandey could be the future batsman in the middle order to look up to ever since he scored his match-winning century against Australia in the SCG.

It’s granted that he did go off the boil a bit after his special knock but there is consensus on the fact that he should be given more opportunities. He was sure to be a part of the team in the Champions Trophy and it was only his injury that warranted a starting place for Yuvraj.

Now that he his fit and in form – he scored three half-centuries, with scores of 55, 86 not out, and 93 not out in South Africa – he was always going to make it back to the side. And Pandey’s return was always going to put Yuvraj’s position in the team in jeopardy.