BCCI confident in Yuvraj Singh’s ability to deliver

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has expressed confidence in Yuvraj Singh’s potential as a match-winner, after the 30-year-old was included in India’s 15-man squad for their upcoming 2-match T20I series.

“Yuvraj has been declared fit, so he makes a comeback. And all of us know, if he gets going, he can singlehandedly win matches,” said chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth. “In 2011 World Cup, he was the Man of the Series. He is a crucial factor from India's point of view.”

This marks the first time the star all-rounder has been named in a 15-man national squad for a series, after he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer last year. Yuvraj played his last match for the national team in November last year, against the West Indies, after which a tumour was detected between his lungs.

Diagnosed as mediastinal seminoma (a rare form of germ cell cancer), the illness saw the southpaw flying to the United States in January this year to undergo chemotherapy sessions at the IU Simon Cancer Centre in Indianapolis, where he was bolstered by support from family, fans, and prominent sporting figures such as Anil Kumble and Lance Armstrong.

Following his recovery and return to India in April, Yuvraj set about the process of finding his way back to cricket. A plan to gradually return to playing cricket via domestic tournaments went unfulfilled, but Yuvraj marked the ICC World Twenty20, scheduled to be played in Sri Lanka this September, as the event that would mark his comeback to cricket.

However, expressing the desire to do well in the mega event (for which he has been named in India’s preliminary 30-man squad), the all-rounder claimed he would be interested in playing in the T20 leg of New Zealand’s upcoming tour of India.

Yuvraj, the Player of the Tournament from India’s 2011 World Cup triumph, underwent fitness drills at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore in a bid to regain his fitness in time for the event, in addition to playing a practice match against the India U-19 team for the KSCA XI.

His efforts paid off and he has been named in the 15-man squad for the T20I series against the Kiwis. The first match is scheduled to be played on September 8, while the second will be played on September 11.