On the morning of the second day, Yuvraj Singh took his eyes off a delivery pitched short, he turned his head away from the line of the leather hurled towards him. He ended up copping it on the right shoulder. Yuvraj was the odd man out for India during the only time they batted here in the second Test. While the other batsmen played fluently, the southpaw was scratchy and did not appear confident during his brief stay at the wicket.
He played and missed, was lucky to see his outside edges fall short of slips and a pull shot took a leading edge to the third man boundary. His misery ended when Darren Sammy’s trapped him trying to play across the line. Yuvraj averages only 27 from three Tests this year; last year too, he averaged around 23.
The pain from the blow must have long gone, but there is no telling if the batsman keeps replaying the incident in his mind. Now, his Test career has taken a nosedive again, with the selectors drafting Rohit Sharma in his place for the third Test in Mumbai.
In a heartfelt interview before the series, Yuvraj admitted that his best years were yet to come and that he wanted to be remembered as a good Test player.
For Yuvraj, though, the series just didn’t pan out as planned. Scores of 23 and 18 in the Delhi Test and an ungainly 25 in Kolkata were never going to be enough, given that the series against the West Indies was being viewed as a precursor to the much-awaited tour of Australia.
If the selectors were looking for chinks in India’s armour, Yuvraj did himself no favours.
However, soon after India clinched the Kolkata Test, MS Dhoni came in support of his beleaguered batsman. “Getting hit on body, hasn’t got anything to do with his performance. Most of the big batsmen have got hit,” he said.
“At the end of the day, it’s about scoring runs. It does not matter where you got hit or where you scored runs,” he added.
About Yuvraj’s poor run in Tests, Dhoni said, “Yes, he is going through a tough phase but it’s important to show confidence in him. We all know he is talented. He has played really well against all the big bowlers, especially in ODIs, which means he has talent to do well in Tests too.
“One more reason is that he has been in and out of the side. It’s very difficult to back yourself. You have that bit of tentativeness. It’s a bit tough on him. But hopefully, he will recover and do well for India.”
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