Yuvraj Singh has been one of India’s star players. He has been instrumental in helping India win the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup. He has played the role of finisher in the India team for a long time. However, despite all this, he was never able to become the full-time captain of the Indian team. Now Yuvraj has revealed the reason why he did not become the captain of the India team.
During a conversation with ‘Sports-18’ Sanjay Manjrekar, Yuvraj Singh says: ‘I was about to become the captain of India when the Greg Chappell incident happened. There was a dispute between Chappell and Sachin. I was the only player on my team who supported my teammate in this controversy. Some BCCI officials did not like this. He told himself he’d make anyone but me captain. I don’t know how true this is, but this is what I heard. After that, the vice-captain position was suddenly taken away from me. Sehwag was not with the team during that time and thus suddenly MS Dhoni was named India’s captain in the 2007 T20 World Cup.
Yuvraj further says: ‘Viru was a senior but was not on the England tour. I was the vice captain of the ODI team at the time and Rahul Dravid was the captain. So, in such a situation, I had to be made a captain. It was definitely a decision that went against me but I don’t regret it in the least. Even today, if something like this happens, I will support my game partner.
Yuvraj also says: ‘After a while, I felt that Mahi is really getting very good at the captaincy. He was probably the best player to lead the ODI cricket team. After that I started to get injured a lot. Even if they had made me captain, I would have had to quit. So it can be said that everything that happens, happens for good. I do not regret not having obtained the captaincy of India. Yes, if this was the case, it would have been a great honor, but if something bad was ever done to my partner, I would always support him.