Kolkata: Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni may have batted together after days for India A against England yesterday at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, but there’s no stopping the former’s father and ex-Indian cricketer, Yograj Singh who has once again vented his ire at Dhoni. Yograj told Maharashtra Times that it was because of Dhoni’s exit as a skipper that his son had made a comeback into the Indian ODI and T20 sides to be led by Virat Kohli.
The senior Singh also added that his prediction two years ago had also come true. He was probably referring to his self-conceived notion that Dhoni didn’t want Yuvraj in the ODI team and his son would be back with Dhoni no longer at the helm.
Now, Yuvraj’s father’s statement comes at a time, when his son shared a video featuring Dhoni and him showing great camaraderie. Both have showered praises on each other and this augurs well for the Indian team that faces England in three ODIs and three T20 Internationals. However, Yograj’s irresponsible statement comes as a dampener though, one hopes it doesn’t impact the friendship between Dhoni and Yuvraj.
Time and again, Yograj has taken on Dhoni for attempting to ruin his son’s career though, Yuvraj has always distanced himself from his father’s stance. On the contrary, he has always showed his respect for Dhoni and expressed wholeheartedly how much he has enjoyed playing with and under him.
Looking back at records, it was Yuvraj who was at the non-striker’s end, when Dhoni hit a six to win India the World Cup in 2011. Similarly, when Yuvraj was on fire against Stuart Broad (getting six over boundaries in one over) in the 2007, ICC T20 World Cup, Dhoni was his partner at the other end. Together, they have won India many memorable matches. Though, there were reports that things had gone sour when Yuvraj fell out of Dhoni’s favours especially after being left out of contention for the World Cup in 2015, Yuvi has never used a word against Dhoni.
God knows, what Yograj is up to, but henceforth he should use words with responsibility or else it might create a rift between two friends who still apparently show no signs of tension. And just to remind, Singh Senior, it was under Dhoni’s leadership that Yuvraj made a historical comeback into the Indian T-20 side after recovering from cancer. Yuvraj was brought into the side despite not having enough match practice. So, before taking swipes at Dhoni, Yograj should look back in time.
However, on a concluding note, behind closed doors there are quite a few cricketers, both current and former, who blame Dhoni for keeping them out of his scheme of things. Do we need to name them? We already know who they are. Well, the truth will probably never be unveiled, but questions deep down our hearts will always remain.
(With inputs from NDTV)