It’s destiny that MS Dhoni became India’s skipper ahead of Yuvraj Singh: Yograj Singh

Yograj Singh, the father of former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh, hasn’t minced any words to lash out at MS Dhoni in recent times. He has often hit out at Dhoni for not lending Yuvraj adequate support in tough times. Now, Yograj, who’s also a retired Indian all-rounder, blasted Dhoni as he felt that his son was set to become the national skipper before destiny had other plans.

Dhoni was given the captaincy mantle after India’s horrendous campaign in the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. Dhoni’s first assignment was the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa and he guided the Men in Blue to glory.  From there on, he kept garnering laurels one after the other.

However, despite Dhoni’s success at the highest level, Yograj hasn’t stopped criticising the 38-year-old from Jharkhand. Even as he lauded Sourav Ganguly for building a team with a number of youngsters, he said that players under Dhoni never got support.

Many have backstabbed Yuvraj Singh, says Yograj

“The videos I have watched lately featuring Sehwag, Gambhir or Yuvraj, everybody has said something about Dhoni directly or indirectly. Why does everybody talk about Ganguly so much? When he started building the team, its ranking was 7. He took youngsters like Yuvraj, Kaif, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Sehwag and Gambhir and built a new team,” Yograj Singh told News 24.

“It’s destiny that Yuvraj was supposed to become captain but Dhoni got the captaincy as well as a well-built team,” Yograj, who played one Test and six ODIs for Team India, added. Yuvraj was one of India’s star players and came up the ranks quickly. In the 2007 T20 WC, he smashed Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over and in the 2011 World Cup in India, he became the Player of the Tournament.

Yograj also urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to give the Indian stalwarts a ‘good send-off, owing to their contributions for the national side. “When Dhoni, Kohli or Rohit retire, I would request the board to give them a good send-off as they have done so much for Indian cricket. Many have backstabbed him and it hurts,” he added.