Mumbai: Former captain Kapil Dev feels Yuvraj Singh, who played his first Test since recovering from cancer in Ahemedabad, needs to be more focussed to establish himself in the longer format of the game.
“I hope he plays well in Test cricket, which is his passion. In one-dayers and Twenty20, there is no better stroke player in the world like him. But he needs to establish himself in Test cricket. He needs to focus better,” said Kapil at the launch of the book ‘Yuvi’, here on Tuesday.
Former chief national selector Dilip Vengsarkar, at whose academy Yuvraj played in his initial days, rued that the left-handed batsman did not play enough Test matches.
“Over the years he didn’t play many Test matches, which, I feel very bad about,” Vengsarkar said.
The former captain, and member of the 1983 World Cup-winning squad led by Kapil, said he put faith in his former ward when he became the chief selector and ensured that he played a Test series. “When I became a selector, I made sure that he played a Test series. He played against Pakistan in Bangalore, where he scored 169. It was one of the finest innings I have seen in Test cricket.
“But unfortunately, he got injured in one of the training sessions, because of which he couldn’t play for a year.
“That I feel was a let-down for him because he is such an outstanding cricketer. The shots he executes would make (West Indian legend) Garry Sobers proud,” he said.
Vengsarkar said he had spotted exceptional talent in Yuvraj who would clear the boundary line with ease.
“The talent we could see was exceptional. He could clear the ground and would clear 120 metres boundary lines at Oval maidan. He was very obedient, very disciplined and extremely focused,” he said.
The former Test middle order batsman also recounted the incident when Yuvraj first came to his academy and could not cope up with travelling in crowded Mumbai trains.
“He was 15 years old and stayed with Makarand in Andheri. When he came to the academy at Oval maidan for the first time, the session was at 3pm and Yuvi reached at 5 in the evening.”
Vengsarkar explained that Yuvraj told him that he wanted to go home as he could not handle the train journey from Andheri.
He missed three trains because they were too crowded and was pushed out of the fourth at the wrong station.
“That same evening I told players who were staying in Andheri like Ramesh Powar, who was slightly bigger than what he is today, and asked him to take him home safely. I then overheard their conversation,” Vengsarkar recalled.
“Ramesh told Yuvi the moment the train enters you need to push people out. When you get inside the train, just stand at one of the corners. The next day Yuvraj reached on time and said he used the technique told to him by Powar.”
Waingankar, who has been associated with Yuvraj’s family since 1979, said that once Yuvraj returned from US following his treatment for cancer, he had asked him not to seek sympathy.
“When I spoke to him when he came back from America, I told him don’t seek sympathy if you want to perform on the cricket field. You have to go out to that 22 yards and just perform. Cricket is a simple game don’t complicate it.
“When I met him at CCI (Cricket Club of India) during the warm-up game against England), I saw a distinct change in his approach. The youth had matured,” he said. (PTI)