Eye on India: Yuvraj Singh returns to ODI for England series; World Cup expansion sparks optimism

Indias Yuvraj Singh plays a shot during a warm-up match against England in Mumbai on January 10, 2017. Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

The last time Yuvraj Singh played a one-day international (ODI) for India was in December 2013, a day before he turned 32.

You have to go back to March 2011, during a World Cup that he finished as player of the tournament, for the last of his 13 ODI hundreds.

Now, on the back of strong performances for Punjab against the red ball in the Ranji Trophy, he has been recalled to the ODI set-up as India play their final series before the defence of the Champions Trophy in England this June.

At the last global 50-over event in 2015, India and England were at opposite ends of the performance spectrum.

India won seven straight before losing to Australia, the eventual winners, in the semi-finals. England did not even make it to the last eight, losing to Bangladesh in the group stage.

Since then, they have journeyed in different directions. Under the coaching of Trevor Bayliss, who enjoyed considerable success in the white-ball formats in both Australia and India, England have discarded their old game plans and become one of the more exciting sides around.

They have also won 19 and lost just 11 of their 33 games since that World Cup misadventure.

India, by contrast, have a 13-11 win-loss record since the World Cup, but six of those wins have come against Zimbabwe.

With the exception of the outstanding Virat Kohli, who has now assumed the leadership role in limited-overs games as well, no middle-order batsman has really made himself indispensable.

Yuvraj’s return is as much an indictment of those that have failed to nail down a place in two years, as it is of his own ball-striking qualities.

England have a squad filled with big-hitting batsmen, so much so that Sam Billings and Jonny Bairstow may not even get a look in.

Billings made a match-winning 93 in a warm-up against India A earlier in the week and is one of those who have benefited greatly from a stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“My footwork against spin improved just in the six weeks here working with Rahul Dravid [at Delhi Daredevils], one of the best players ever to play the game,” he said. “It’s an amazing experience and one I would like to have again.”

Ben Stokes, whose ability with bat and ball was in evidence during the Test series, is another who has said he will go into the IPL auction in February, and his bowling will be crucial to an English side whose pacers might otherwise suffer against a rampaging Indian line-up.

David Willey’s left-arm pace could trouble India, but for Chris Woakes, Jake Ball and Liam Plunkett, Indian conditions will pose a real challenge.

It will be interesting to see how much faith Kohli reposes in Hardik Pandya, the latest in a long line of seam-bowling all-rounders to be tried.

Umesh Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah are likely to take the new ball, but with all three from R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra unlikely to be part of the XI, either in India or at the Champions Trophy, the pace component of the attack will come in for scrutiny.

Elsewhere, there is a final chance for Ajinkya Rahane to establish himself in the ODI ranks, ahead of the likes of KL Rahul and Manish Pandey, and an opportunity for MS Dhoni to show what damage he can do with the bat, without the cares of captaincy to wear him down.

Two days before the game, Dhoni was certain that his successor Kohli could ‘rewrite history’.

“I think Virat and this team will win more games than me in all the formats,” he said. “The whole pool of players seem to be ones who will play cricket in the right spirit, the way it is supposed to be.

“I feel this will be the most successful Indian cricket team ever, on a consistent basis. Because that’s the kind of potential they have, that’s the kind of experience they have.”

They face their first big test on Sunday.

Optimism sparked by World Cup expansion

Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, after announcing this week that the football World Cup would become a 48-team event from 2026, took a potshot at some of his critics, notably the Germans.

“It’s not the 20th century any more,” he said. “It’s the 21st century. Football is more than Europe and South America. Football is global.

“The football fever you have in a country that qualifies for the World Cup is the most powerful tool you can have, in those nine months before qualifying and the finals.”

Many in India football still wish it was the 20th century. At least in the first couple of decades after independence in 1947, the country’s football team was competitive at the Asian level.

Players like Chuni Goswami, Jarnail Singh and Peter Thangaraj, the goalkeeper, were considered among the best on the continent, and India won Asian Games gold in both 1951 and 1962.

Since 1984, India have not even qualified for the Asian Cup on merit. Their 2011 appearance was courtesy the backdoor provided by the now-defunct AFC Challenge Cup.

But with Fifa’s announcement, there is cautious optimism, especially in a year when the country will host the Under 17 World Cup.

Nicolai Adam, a German coach, has been tasked with leading India into that 24-team tournament in October.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) hopes that this U17 squad will form the core of a team that can endeavour to qualify for the World Cup in 2026.

The campaign to get to Russia in 2018 ended in humiliating fashion, with seven defeats in eight games, including a 2-1 loss in Guam.

The U17s began the year with an 8-0 loss in St Petersburg against Russia’s U18s, and Adam and his charges are under no illusions about the task they face, even with home advantage.

But with the Indian Super League raising the profile of football in the country and clubs like Bengaluru FC taking the academy route to success far more seriously, there are shoots of hope for the future.

It is a myth that India did not travel to the 1950 World Cup because the players were not allowed to take the field barefoot.

The federation simply did not have the funds to send them. These days, money is not an issue. But the World Cup dream remains beyond the clouds.

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