Yuvraj Singh looking to come out of retirement, shoots e-mail to BCCI

Former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has written to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah in a bid to come out of retirement and start playing for Punjab in domestic T20 cricket.

Yuvraj, who announced his retirement in 2019, before going on to play in overseas T10 tournaments, will need to have a clearance from the BCCI if he wants to resume his cricketing career in the Indian domestic circuit.  

The two-time World Cup winner said that he enjoyed spending time with young players while talking to them about various aspects of the game and added he would love to help them take that extra step forward while helping the team with his presence on the field. 

"I enjoyed spending time with these youngsters, and talking to them about various aspects of the game, I realised that they were able to pick up various things that I was telling them," Yuvraj, 38, told Cricbuzz on Wednesday afternoon, as he confirmed his comeback plans. "I had to get into the nets to show them a few other elements, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well I was hitting the ball even though I hadn't held a bat for a really long time."

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"I also trained for those two months, and then I started to bat in the off-season camp. I made runs in some of the practice matches. Mr Puneet Bali, the secretary of the Punjab Cricket Association, approached me after one of the sessions and asked me if I would reconsider coming out of retirement,” Yuvraj explained.

Bali is of the view that Yuvraj’s mentorship could help the youngsters massively and the southpaw was looking in great touch so why not come back and play some more domestic cricket?

"Initially, I wasn't sure that I wanted to take up the offer," Yuvraj admits. "I was done with domestic cricket, though I did want to continue to play in other domestic franchise-based leagues worldwide if I got permission from the BCCI. But I also couldn't ignore Mr Bali's request. I gave it a lot of thought, for nearly three or four weeks, and it was almost as if I didn't even have to make a conscious decision in the end.

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"The motivation is to help Punjab win championships. Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh), myself, we have won tournaments, but we haven't done it together for Punjab, so that was a big factor in my final call," Yuvraj points out. "Obviously, Shubman is already playing for India, and I feel there's plenty of potential in the other three boys. If I can contribute in any way to their development and to the development of Punjab cricket, then that will be wonderful. After all, playing for Punjab is what paved the way for my international career."

Yuvraj, in his letter of Ganguly and Shah, made it clear that he would not pursue his options of playing in overseas leagues once he is given the green signal to return to Indian domestic cricket. Yuvraj had earlier played for Toronto Nationals in Global T20 Canada and Maratha Arabians in Abu Dhabi T10 League. 

"As things stand now, I will be playing only T20s if I get the nod," Yuvraj observes. "But who knows, let's see."