Yuvraj Singh wants to make meaningful contributions to the Indian team in CT 2017

India’s limited-overs star batsman Yuvraj Singh is hopeful that he will be able to make a “meaningful contribution” to the team as they get ready to defend their Champions Trophy title against the top 8 cricketing nations of the world.

The veteran batsman will be playing in the Champions Trophy after a gap of 11 years. He made his debut in the 2000 event held in Kenya and was further a part in all events until 2006, before missing out on the 2009 and 2013 editions of the championship.

“I am delighted to be returning to the Indian side for the 50-over ICC tournament and look forward to making a meaningful contribution as the side aims to defend its title,” Yuvraj was quoted saying in an ICC statement.

Team India has been placed in a challenging group which includes Pakistan, Sri-Lanka and South Africa. They will face a stiff challenge from the teams in their bid to defend the title they won in 2013.

“We are in a tough group, but at the same time, we are a form side following a highly successful domestic season. We will target to carry forward the winning momentum into the ICC Champions Trophy so that we can become the second side after Australia to win two consecutive titles,” said Yuvraj, who has represented the country in 296 ODIs.

He also added that with plenty of NRIs settled in the UK, India has always felt at home while playing there. India has retained eight players from their side which went on to lift the title in 2013, which includes the skipper Virat Kohli,  Shikhar Dhawan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin,  Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rohit Sharma and Umesh Yadav.

Kohli will captain the Indian side for the first time in a major ICC event. All the teams are allowed to make changes to their squads without needing an ICC approval until May 24 after which all player replacement requests will require the approval of the Event Technical Committee.

India’s squad for champions trophy: Virat Kohli (C), Yuvraj Singh, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rohit Sharma, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Ajinkya Rahane, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.

Players on standby: Suresh Raina, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur.