In-form Yuvraj Singh, finally, has been recalled by the national selectors for the T20 series down under.
In the on-going Vijay Hazare tournament, Yuvraj was making the right noises at the right time and his consistent performances have paid off. On Friday, a day before the selection, Yuvraj's quickfire 98 runs in just 83 balls helped Punjab chase down a mammoth total of 323 against Services.
This was not the first time in the tournament where Yuvi has anchored a win for home side. The 2011 World Cup hero has been showing great batting for a while now. In the national one-day championship, Yuvraj has scored 341 runs for Punjab in five innings with scores of 93, 36, 36, 78 unbeaten and 98.
34-year-old dashing batsman is also a better bowler than what he gets accredited with. His heroics with the ball, combined with some great display of batting, saw him win the man of the tournament award at the 2011 World Cup. The southpaw will give the Indian team the 'much-needed' fire power in the middle-order.
In the recently concluded series with South Africa, MS Dhoni led side was certainly missing a player in the middle-order who can, both, anchor an innings and play big shots if and when needed. Yuvraj can provide just that with extra fire-power and stability at the same time. He can be the difference maker on the final outcome of the tournament.
Interestingly, Yuvraj is making a comeback against his hunting opposition — Australia. Be it his first century (139 not out) in ODIs or a superb 70 of just 30 balls in the T20 World Cup semi-final in 2007, Australia has been his preferred opposition much to the delight of Indian fans.
Big hitting all-rounder has amassed a total 247 runs in six matches against the 2015 World Cup winners at an average of 61.75 with a whopping strike rate of 170.
Yuvraj's last outing for Men in Blue was against Sri lanka at the 2014 T20 World Cup final. The match ended with headlines of angry fans pelting stones at Yuvraj's house. Yuvraj scored just 11 of the 30 deliveries he faced. In the IPl, after being fetched for a staggering `16 crore by Delhi Daredevils, all he could muster was 248 runs in 14 matches.
BCCI has provided him with an opportunity at the right time against the right opponent and Yuvraj should look to grab it with both hands as this could well be the final chance for him going forward.
He missed out on an ODI berth, but his performance in the 3-match T20 series could prove vital in his contention to represent India in the World T20 from March 8 to April 3, 2016 in India.
Along with the southpaw, the Sandip Patil led selection committee has also handed a comeback to veteran Delhi pacer Ashish Nehra. Nehra had a great outing with Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier league 2015.
While Yuvraj and Nehra alongside Suresh Raina have not found a place in the ODI squad, Brainder Sran did get a maiden call-up to wear the blue jersey. The left arm seamer from Punjab, like Yuvraj, has been picked on the basis of some impressive performances in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Sran, enrolled with the currently suspended IPl team Rajasthan Royals, has picked up 16 wickets in six matches in the on-going tournament.
Yuvraj and Nehra's return to the T-20 side is a clear indication that Indian selectors want to maintain a firm balance of experienced and young players. This goes against BCCI's recent policy of picking youngsters with an eye on building the team for the 2019 World Cup. Now it will be interesting to see how the old-race horses of the Indian team performs in Australia.