Yuvraj Singh Sends Clear Message To Ajit Agarkar Amid Rohit Sharma's 2027 World Cup Uncertainty

India's squad for the upcoming white-ball series against West Indies was announced on Wednesday, with veteran duo Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retaining their places in the team. Following the West Indies series, India will take on New Zealand as preparations for the 2027 ODI World Cup gather pace. With uncertainty surrounding Rohit's place in India's squad for the marquee tournament, former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has offered a strong piece of advice to the selectors with the 2027 World Cup in mind.

Yuvraj, who was part of India's victorious squads in the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 ODI World Cup, said that the selection committee should focus on building a strong core group while ensuring that every player gets ample game time.

"They need to focus on building the same team to play in a year's time, because you don't want to make big changes at the last moment," Yuvraj told Cricinfo.

"Whoever your players are, whether they ardoe 16 or 20, it's important that everybody gets game time because obviously now there's more T20s and less 50-over cricket. Whatever matches there are, it's important that players get enough game time to prepare for the World Cup," he added.

Yuvraj said India have struggled in past tournaments when they made major changes at crucial stages and emphasised the need to back players selected for the World Cup campaign.

"Every time India have faltered is when they've made some massive changes at the last moment or in the tournament. So I think it's important that we stick to a team that we believe can lift the 2027 World Cup and stick by those guys whether they fail or succeed till that moment. Belief in the squad is very important," he said.

The former all-rounder also highlighted India's consistency in white-ball cricket and said the immediate focus should be on building a squad capable of handling different match situations.

"We have had a lot of consistency in white-ball cricket. They need to think of first qualifying for the semis and then going on to play in the last two [knockout matches]. I think that's a long way ahead. Focus should be to get a squad ready which is together and ready to fight in any situation," Yuvraj said.

Yuvraj also pointed to Australia's World Cup success, saying their ability to rely on individual match-winners has been a key factor behind their achievements.

"That's the reason why Australia have been successful, because I believe that the Australian side, whenever they won World Cups, they've had a lot of match-winners who individually can pull off a game, and on a specific day, one does the job, and when they're all in trouble, they together pull it off," he said.

(With ANI Inputs)

Featured Video Of The Day

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Yuvraj Singh Rohit Sharma Cricket