The Enigma called Yuvraj Singh!!

Yuvraj Singh is an enigma – yes, that’s what he is.

We all know how prodigious a talent he is ever since he made those glorious 84 on debut against Australia. Since then he has pretty much lived up to his talent, but only in the shorter form of the game. While he has so far played more than 200 ODIs for India, his test caps are only 20 odd. Now after being dropped from the Irani Trophy squad, I don’t expect him to be picked for the tests against Australia.

We might say that main reason for that is the presence of fab-four in India’s middle order, which leaves no place for him. And, whenever he has got a chance, he has scored runs – the latest example being the Bangalore test against Pakistan where he scored 169.

But guys lets face it that the bigger reason for his exclusion from the test team is his weakness against the moving ball and his inability to play quality spin bowling. And his weaknesses were clearly visible in the series against Aussies and Sri Lanka. While in Australia, it was the moving ball, Ajantha Mendis was his nemesis in SL.

I fail to understand where those gorgeous on-the-up drives and backfoot punches, that he so effortlessly play in ODIs, go when he is playing in whites. While watching him playing in Australia, I felt that he has no clue where the ball is going to pitch and what is it going to do after that. Almost invariably his first reaction was to take a half-step forward, mis-judge the length of the ball and then try to play the shot far away from the body. Yes, he did play some stunning drives, especially through on-side, but an edge is never far away when you are playing so far away from the body.

Now lot of people might say that there is some problem with his technique and thus he needs to go back to domestic cricket, work on hi technique and then come back to the team. But I don’t agree with this argument.

My argument is that one does not need a special technique to succeed in test cricket. It is the temperament that is the issue here. I think technically (with all the weaknesses), he is good enough to be a good middle order batsman. I think he needs to learn a few things from his fellow teammate and ODI captain MS Dhoni. Dhoni, who started off as a reckless hitter of the ball, has transformed himself as one of the best ODI batsmen in the world. He plays according to the situation and I have not seen him playing a reckless shot in a long long time.

Apart from that, his off-field controversies are not helping much. There are stories about his not-so-happy relationship with Dhoni because he himself was the captain in waiting when Dhoni jumped over and grabbed the position. Plus, there is a perception that these days he spends more time partying than practicing and focusing on cricket. He himself says that he likes to party and no one should object as long as it is not affecting his cricket.

I agree that everybody has the right to enjoy his life, but statements like these only add more fuel to the fire. They give media more excuses to criticize him and this puts him under more pressure which ultimately affects his batting.

So, I think he seriously needs to do some thinking regarding this. I think that he should try to keep a low profile so that media does not bother him and he can focus on cricket. However, the most important thing that he needs to is to improve his temperament, because that is the most important ingredient for success in test cricket.

He is too good a talent and India cannot afford to loose him.