Hopeful of India return ahead of 2015 ICC World Cup: Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh

Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has said that he is hoping for a comeback to the Indian team ahead of the upcoming 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, despite not playing ODI cricket for close to a year, with his last appearance coming in South Africa in December 2013.

Yuvraj was Man-of-the-Tournament during India’s victorious 2011 World Cup campaign in the sub-continent, and he’ll be desperately hoping that he can be part of the squad which will defend its title in Australia & New Zealand. The 32-year old hopes that he can impress the selectors with some consistent domestic performances in the near future.

There were rumours of Yuvraj having given up hope of playing for India ever again, but he rubbished those claims and said that he is as determined as ever to get back into the national fold.

"My words were twisted and were made to sound like I don't want to play. (But) Anything is possible in life and I am looking forward to playing for India again," he said, in an exclusive interview to NDTV.

"Selection is not in my hands. I've got a few domestic tournaments coming up (and) I look forward to playing in that. If they (selectors) think I can still deliver I think I'll get picked," he remarked. "I just look forward to playing cricket.”

Although he has been backed to make a return by prominent former cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar, Yuvraj is under no illusion as to how difficult it is going to be to do so, especially with the younger players stepping up to the plate and performing so well.

"The youngsters are doing pretty well. It's going to be hard to find a place in the top XI. But the World Cup is going to be a squad of more than 16, so let's see what happens," he added.

When asked about how he rates the current Indian ODI team, he said that they are blessed with a couple of match winners in MS Dhoni & Virat Kohli and should be well-placed to defend their title.

"We have a couple of match winners - Virat (Kohli), Rohit (Sharma) and MS (Dhoni) will be the main batsmen in the team right now. (But) I would say our bowling is a bit inexperienced," he said. "Hopefully the bowlers should deliver. Wickets might help the bowlers over there with the bounce."

Yuvraj finally added that they should look to use their long tour of Australia, starting with the Test series, to build momentum leading up to the quadrennial event, especially with the conditions they are likely to encounter during the World Cup being in stark contrast to the conditions back home.

"Tracks are going to be bouncier and move a bit more so. You can only assess once you get there and how your World Cup starts. It's very important to get a good momentum going in the World Cup which we had in 2011," he concluded.