Yuvraj's form critical to India design

With the likes of Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli delivering for India, Yuvraj Singh's crucial return to form bodes well for India.

By Ayanjit Sen

It has been 28 years since India stood at the pinnacle of one-day cricket. Nearly three decades of big misses and close shaves. With every passing ICC Cricket World Cup, the will to win is looking more like desperation to win. That desperation has never been as apparent, for this time everybody in Team India wants to win it for Sachin Tendulkar. 

Tendulkar's cricketing obituary has been written many times, but this World Cup is likely to be his last. Even the hungriest run machine the world has ever seen must stop chugging sometime - and common sense says it will do so within the next four years. Lifting the World Cup is a dream Tendulkar wants fulfilled before he hangs up his boots.

It was therefore absolutely thrilling when the Little Master took the giant stride himself against England in pursuit of that elusive trophy with a masterpiece on Sunday night. Of course, Sachin's thunder was stolen by Andrew Strauss’ craftiness as the Chinnaswamy kept to its tradition of producing some absolute humdingers. But the genius' form portends well for India.

Encouragingly for the hosts, the game also marked the return to form of Yuvraj Singh - the only missing piece in the batting jigsaw. His belligerent 58 off 50 balls means all of India's frontline batsmen have at least a half-century under their belt in the past two weeks. Yuvraj has always been critical to India’s chances, and it was a pity that a batsman of his caliber was relying on part-time spin to cling on to a starting XI place.

That should now change for good, especially because the Punjabi's lean, grey patch often turns into a lush, purple one - which obviously helps the team's cause immensely. With some big matches coming up for India, Yuvraj is beginning to sparkle at just the right moment.

But the southpaw's return to form has also brought a few minor headaches for the selectors. For starters, the combination looked to have settled down nicely with the team having just made a crucial decision of picking Virat Kohli ahead of Suresh Raina but Yuvraj’s revival will provoke a rethink.

There’s a serious temptation to place him back at No.4 and re-jig the batting order, or even swap Virat with Raina, but it will be in the best interests of the team to keep Virat at number four and ask Yuvraj to come lower down the order.

The Delhi man is as destructive a batsman as Yuvraj, except that he needs a bit more time to settle in. Any lower than four and he is likely to put himself under too much pressure and throw his wicket away. An in-form Yuvraj, on the other hand, can start tearing into the bowlers from the get-go. Relieved of the pressures of laying a foundation for the side, he can be given freedom to just go out and express himself. That's when Yuvraj thrives.

His younger teammate seems to relish the extra responsibility that comes with batting higher up the order. Virat has revelled in that role, lending spine to a middle-lower middle order. With Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan, there is ample firepower for the end overs while in Tendulkar, Sehwag and Gambhir, India have players who can take full toll of the opening Powerplays. Virat serves as the perfect bridge between India's top-three and numbers five, six and seven.

His presence at four also gives India the benefit of a left-right combination during the middle overs (Gambhir, Virat, Yuvraj, Dhoni/Pathan). India's strength is their batting and it is crucial they squeeze every possible advantage out of it if they are to have any chance of giving Tendulkar the perfect farewell gift.