Virender Sehwag disgusted at the omission of Yuvraj and Raina from Indian team

The greatest debate running in the Indian cricketing fraternity at the moment is whether to opt for youth and exuberance or to go with the safe and secure formula of experience and sacrifice raw talent in doing so. In the modern era of cricket, the teams are paying enough attention to the fitness levels of cricketers, as a result of which we have seen vastly experienced players like Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh miss out on opportunities. Former Indian opening batsman Virender Sehwag, however, wants former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to play till the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

Led by the ever-so-fit skipper Virat Kohli, the men in blue are running rings around Sri Lanka at the moment. Both Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina were expected to make it to the squad for the limited overs format. However, that was not the case to be as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) fielded a team which does not include any of these two cricketers.

Initially, it was reported that Yuvraj Singh has not been dropped and he has rather been rested for the tour. But later it was found out that both Singh and Raina failed the Yo-Yo fitness drills, a hurdle they should have mastered to seal a berth in Kohli’s select. Virender Sehwag feels that the experience of the two veteran cricketers is of utmost importance when Kohli will field a side against a strong team like Australia.

“If the top-order fails, then either of these two, batting with Dhoni, could be very useful. The youngsters need a lot of time to gain experience. The upcoming limited overs series against Australia is a very important series. It shouldn’t be used to just find a core group. Virat can certainly experiment against Sri Lanka because he knows they are not a strong team,” said the Nawab of Najafgarh while speaking to the Times of India.

Experimentations should be carried out with the India ‘A’ team

Often criticised for his own fitness level, Sehwag has said that the experimentations that Kohli and Shastri are doing with the Indian team at the moment should be done in the India ‘A’ side. Sehwag wants BCCI to formulate a structured schedule for the ‘A’ team and the young players should be given a chance to show their talent on that team and not in the senior Indian team. The Men in Blue will face the Aussies from September 17 and Viru feels that the team taking on the baggy greens must comprise of Yuvraj and Suresh.