Accommodating Yuvi, but at what cost?

Well, like most, I too sympathised with Yuvraj Singh. I mean what else you wanted him to do for a place in the Test team? Considering his red hot form, denying him a Test berth bordered on felony.

So when the team was rejigged and Yuvi was accommodated, I too felt justice was finally delivered. But now that the India-Australia series is into the second Test, I’m afraid, it was an exercise we should have rather refrained from and my view has nothing to do with Yuvraj’s scores in Melbourne.

To start with, just to accommodate Yuvi, the entire line-up was tinkered with. Rahul Dravid has been our best bet at number three – he would walk in any Test side on an any given day – and we have made him to open the innings! And hats off to the ‘The Wall’, who did not allow his personal preference override team interest.

Those who panned Dravid for rivaling snail with his strike rate, conveniently turned a blind eye to his commitment to the team. Never mind the scores and the run rates, hats off Jammy.

And see what Yuvraj’s inclusion has done to the team. Dravid struggling in his makeshift opener’s role meant we never had the momentum going and I doubt it also affected Yuvraj’s show.

In Melbourne, he walked out under tremendous pressure. He was aware that if the batting order looked jumbled up, it was just to accommodate him. So if his shoulders looked dropped whenever he took guard, it did not surprise me, for here was a man burdened with a sense of guilt at being the reason for the change in the status quo that did not suit the side.

Yuvraj is aware that Dravid has been pushed out of his comfort zone just to allow the team of affording the luxury of having him in the side. That puts Yuvraj too under additional pressure to perform and so if he lingered in the crease after ruled out in both the innings of the Melbourne Test, I was not exactly surprised.

The moot question is accommodating Yuvi is understandable, but at what cost? No individual should be bigger than the team interest. I somehow feel, Dravid has as much right to stick to his number three slot as much Yuvraj has to demand a Test cap. But team interest should have been the guiding principle for the think-tank. It’s harsh on Yuvi but I think he can wait.

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