Former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has lamented on lack of support from the team management during the second half of his career. Yuvraj, one of India's greatest match-winners in limited-overs cricket, returned to international cricket in 2012 after successfully defeating cancer.
However, he wasn't the same player he once was, and the southpaw endured one of the lowest points of his career when he played a match-losing knock of 11 off 21 deliveries in the 2014 T20 World Cup final against Sri Lanka. Singh was heavily criticised for the same and eventually dropped from the ODI and T20I teams.
However, Singh has now revealed that he didn't receive any support from the captain and coach at the time. Speaking on 'Home of Heroes' on Sports18, Yuvraj said:
"During the T20 World Cup in 2014, I was very low on confidence. There was an atmosphere that I could get dropped. It's not an excuse but I wasn't getting enough support from the team. From the time of Gary, I was in Duncan's era and things had completely changed in the team,"
Yuvraj eventually earned a recall to the T20I and ODI team in 2016 but was dropped for good a year later. Drawing parallels to the amount of support that MS Dhoni got from Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri between 2017-19, the southpaw reckoned that he, and his fellow teammates like Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir didn't receive the same.
"Definitely when you have support from the coach and the captain it helps. Look at Mahi (MS Dhoni) towards the end of his career. He had so much support from Virat and Ravi Shastri. They took him to the World Cup, he played till the end, and went on to play 350 games. I think support is very important, but in Indian cricket, everybody will not get support," he opined.
"There have been great players like Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Gautam Gambhir who didn't get that (support). When you are batting out there and you know that the axe is hanging on your head, how will you concentrate and bat and give your best? It is not an excuse but with different coaches and after 2011, times are very different," Yuvraj added.
Yuvraj eventually called time on his international career in July 2019. He represented India in 40 Tests, 304 ODIs and 58 T20Is, scoring 1900, 8701 and 1177 runs, respectively, besides claiming 148 international wickets.