India went to the 2019 World Cup as favourites to win the tournament, but their journey ended after a shocking defeat against New Zealand in the semi-final. Former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh slammed the team management for going to the tournament without taking a proper no.4 batsman.
The former all-rounder claimed the whole planning was wrong and going to a tournament like the World Cup without setting the number four spot affected the team. He also expressed his disappointment for not selecting Ambati Rayudu in the squad.
“I don’t think they were looking for me (middle-order spot). More than me not being there, I was very disappointed with what happened with Rayudu. He was our No. 4 batsman for more than a year. Even in New Zealand, in the last game, I think he got 90 and won the Man of the Match. And then you’re playing Australia and going to the World Cup,” he said.
Yuvraj also said the middle-order was very inexperienced and it was not an ideal decision to pick an inexperienced Vijay Shankar in place of Rayudu in the World Cup.
“When we were going to play the 2003 World Cup, the team that played the tournaments in the lead-up, We almost played with the same team. We had decent experience, me and Mohammad Kaif played about 35-40 games. Our top-order was highly experienced and the middle order was decently experienced.“
“In this World Cup, we dropped Ambati Rayudu and nothing against Vijay Shankar… he played 5 ODIs before the World Cup. Even he went out after the initial games and then we brought in Rishabh Pant. He had played a handful of games in the lead up to the World Cup. How do you expect a with such less experience perform? How do you expect him to perform in a big match?
India were eliminated from the World Cup after they failed to chase down 240 runs in the semi-final. It was one of those games for the men in blue when they top-order failed miserably and the middle-order had to take all the responsibility. Youngsters Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya repaired the early damage but gifted their wicket away just when they seemed to get settled.
A remarkable innings from Ravindra Jadeja, who scored 77 off just 59 balls kept India alive in the game till the last moment, but an exceptional run-out by Martin Guptill ended India’s hope as MS Dhoni was dismissed for 50, soon after the dismissal of Jadeja.
