BY SUNIT JANGIR
Former India player, Yuvraj Singh who had announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in June last year, might be seen in action again in the domestic circuit as the left-hander has confirmed that he wants to help Punjab to win championships at least in the T20 format. ##
The flamboyant batsman had worked with the youngsters like Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh, and Anmolpreet Singh at the PCA Stadium in Mohali in the last few and had felt that despite not being on the field for a long time, he was hitting the ball pretty well. ##
Speaking to Cricbuzz, the 38 years old told, "I enjoyed spending time with these youngsters, and talking to them about various aspects of the game, I realized that they were able to pick up various things that I was telling them. I had to get into the nets to show them a few other elements, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well I was hitting the ball even though I hadn't held a bat for a really long time." ##
"I also trained for those two months, and then I started to bat in the off-season camp. I made runs in some of the practice matches. Mr. Puneet Bali, the secretary of the Punjab Cricket Association, approached me after one of the sessions and asked me if I would reconsider coming out of retirement."##
"Initially, I wasn't sure that I wanted to take up the offer," Yuvraj admits. "I was done with domestic cricket, though I did want to continue to play in other domestic franchise-based leagues worldwide if I got permission from the BCCI. But I also couldn't ignore Mr. Bali's request. I gave it a lot of thought, for nearly three or four weeks, and it was almost as if I didn't even have to make a conscious decision in the end", he added.##
The Player of the Tournament at the 2011 World Cup, Yuvraj also confirmed to Cricbuzz that he has sent a mail to the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah, seeking their permission to come out of retirement. ##
"As things stand now, I will be playing only T20s if I get the nod," Yuvraj observes. "But who knows, let's see."##
If Yuvraj gets permission from BCCI, then he obviously will have to give up his willingness to play outside India as BCCI does not grant NOC to the Indian players until they take retirement from all forms of cricket in India. Last year, he had played for Toronto Nationals in the Global T20 in Canada in August, and for Maratha Arabians in the Abu Dhabi T10 League last November. ##
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