Yuvraj is Lara of India: Aravinda de Silva

[Prudent]

Showering accolades on Yuvraj Singh, Sri Lankan cricketing great Aravinda de Silva described the middle order batsman as the Brian Lara of India. Admiring Yuvraj's entertaining batsmanship, de Silva expressed surprise that a player of his caliber was being kept out of the Test eleven. "I couldn't believe Yuvraj Singh being left out of the Test squad. The way he plays he is the Brian Lara of India. I would pay money to go and watch him. He is one of the best players they got in the whole of India," de Silva said in his syndicated column to Sri Lankan newspapers. Yuvraj was included in the Test squad for the series against Pakistan but was not picked in the playing eleven for the first two matches. The left-hander, who made it to the final team for the third Test due to injuries to Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, scored a breezy hundred to bail out India from a precarious situation. http://cricket.indiatimes.com/Yuvraj_is_Lara_of_India/articleshow/2608264.cms

[Cricketics]

thats coming from the mouth of one of the most toughest batsman to get out, means a lot..

[Lurker]

I absolutely respect Arvinda but this time he has it wrong. Lara's best trait, apart from his strokeplay, was his skill against spinners. Murali obviously rates him as the best bat he bowled to. Yuvraj is a pathetic player of spin and even against pace bowlers he is not same as Lara. Still Yuvraj definitely deserves to be a part of Team India. Much as I feel for him I am also happy for the overflow of talents when it comes to Indian batting. xxx

[DesiChap]

Yes, Yuvraj's time has come BETWEEN THE LIES/Bobilli Vijay Kumar Inarguably, he is one of the best One-day batsmen in world cricket today; if his six sixes in South Africa are anything to go by, he is even more devastating in Twenty20 as well. Single, good-looking and easily at the peak of his career, Yuvraj Singh ought to have been a happy man. Right? Wrong. The attacking left-hander couldn’t hide his despair when this writer had caught up with him recently. "No, I am not content at all," he said. "I want to play Test cricket. I want to excel in it more than anything else because that alone will qualify me as a good player," he added. One could see the frustration in his eyes; his body language too quickly collapsed as he spoke about a slipping dream. Yuvraj was clearly desperate; yes, he was not wallowing in self-pity. He conceded he didn’t make the most of the opportunities that came his way. "I messed them up myself. You could say I didn’t know how to tackle the various crises in Test matches." He was pragmatic enough to also realise he couldn’t do anything but wait for another opportunity. After all, the middle order was already packed with class and experience. Who could nudge out Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman? The sudden clamour for youth and its exciting possibilities did put a little pressure on the so-called older players; Dravid even lost his place in the One-dayers but the selectors and new captain Anil Kumble had their eyes firmly on the upcoming series Down Under. He has to wait for his chance; his day will come soon enough, said Kumble. A disappointed Yuvraj, to prove a further point, even volunteered to go and play for Punjab if he wasn’t included in the playing XI. But then destiny has its own ways of making up for lost opportunities. Almost miraculously, the Indian team transformed into a sick bay. Nothing could stop him now. Nothing but himself, that is. On a bright Saturday, he couldn’t have walked in at a better time. India had slipped in the opening session and lost four wickets on a helpful track. The pressure was on him. He looked nervous; he even tried to get out of it in the only way he knows: by attacking. But luckily sanity prevailed and the bat started finding its sweet spot. Soon, defensive jabs were racing to the boundary; expansive drives were finding the gaps; and eventually the real Yuvraj emerged. If at all any proof was needed to show he deserved a place in the team, he presented it by the sackful on Saturday. In a way, Yuvraj was lucky he didn’t come in at 300 for four, when the Pakistani bowlers were dead tired. Then, even a million runs would not have done anything to his status quo. He would have still found himself on the bench when Tendulkar and Dhoni came back. Now, it is entirely up to the selectors to carve out a place for him. The weakest link at the moment clearly is at the top of the order: in the opening slot as Jaffer’s partner. Gambhir, sadly, will have to wait for his opportunity. It’s strange that the think-tank which so gladly comes up with quickfix solutions hasn’t gone down that road for Yuvraj. If Karthik can open why not him? If Uthappa can bat in the middle order (in One-dayers) why not something else for Yuvraj too? However, wouldn’t it be more exciting to somehow keep Yuvraj in the middle order? Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman are all solid batsmen: they play Test cricket as it is supposed to be played, session by session, over by over. Yuvraj has shown he will play this form of the game too ball by ball, minute by minute. He can be the X-factor in the batting order. He alone can break Australian bowlers’ vice-like grip and even help India pull off something special there. It’s not a question of how to accommodate Yuvraj anymore; it’s all about whom to drop or whom to shuffle for him henceforth. Yes, Yuvraj Singh’s time has come. http://cricket.indiatimes.com/Yes_Yuvrajs_time_has_come/articleshow/2607465.cms

[riya]

Lara was the best batsman against the Aussies which had Mcgrath ,warne .Now what Yuvi can do againsta the Aussies .if he can score double centuries like Lara ,then i would agree that he is India's Lara .

[Ram]

DC, as always, thanks for the news and special mention for adding the news to an already existing Yuvraj thread. :two_thumbs_up:

[DesiChap]

Thanks sriram :)

[Chaos]

i dont want him to be lara, lara cant be a match winner :D

[bharat297]

Look, Yuvraj is no doubt a special talent, but I hate to see any player given too much praise too early. He wanted the Test spot badly, and more than capitalised on the one opportunity he got. Well done. But when people start evoking comparisons between him and Lara, when they are in 2 different leagues, then it is not good for Yuvraj. Before some of his fans start winding up, let me say that I am not a Yuvraj hater, its just that Yuvraj has not done enough to be compared to one of the greatest batsman the world will ever see in Brian Lara. If we build Yuvraj up too high, then once the big 3 go, he will be the scapegoat for all our losses, in a similar way that Sachin is now. Give him a couple of years and let him cement his Test spot, which he hasnt done yet, and lets see how he goes before the comparisons start.

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

Everyone has showered allocades on Yuvraj singh and Yuvraj singh is a fav of many cricketeres these days. Even VIVIAN RICHARDS THE GREATEST EVER likes yuvraj singhs batting style and compared it to his.

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

"I couldn't believe Yuvraj Singh being left out of the Test squad. The way he plays he is the Brian Lara of India. I would pay money to go and watch him. He is one of the best players they got in the whole of India," http://cricket.indiatimes.com/Yuvraj_is_Lara_of_India/articleshow/2608264.cms

That is Indian selectors for you.

[poori_meri]

Yuvi cannot play spin while Lara is 2nd best player of spin after Misbah.

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

Yuvi cannot play spin while Lara is 2nd best player of spin after Misbah.

Yuvi has been awesome against spin in the last 6 mths...prove it to me he can't or where he showed it to you he can't. dont compar ethe young yuvi with the yuvi of now or go by the word of mouth.

[talksport]

closely followed by bhanja

[bharat297]

Yuvi has been awesome against spin in the last 6 mths...prove it to me he can't or where he showed it to you he can't. dont compar ethe young yuvi with the yuvi of now or go by the word of mouth.

I wouldn't say he can't play spin, but he does struggle, in terms of getting tied down, when the pace is taken off the ball. It is now a tactic most teams use in the shorter forms of the game to counter Yuvraj. It was used by the Pakistanis in the T20 world cup final. After the 121 he made against Australia, it was used by Ponting in the recent ODI series, where Hogg tied him down a bit. Even in the recent ODI series against Pakistan, in that innings of 77, he got tied down early on a fair bit by Afridi, Malik and Rehman. He loves the ball coming on to the bat, and thus will probably love Australian wickets, but does not do as well when the pace is taken off the ball. However, this is something I am sure he is working on and will improve on. To his credit, he still maintains a high level of consistency in ODIs in spite of that weakness. However, I don't think it will be a problem as much in Test cricket, as he does not need to keep the run rate at a certain level, and he can pace his innings better.

[Ranjha]

Coming from Aravinda, this is high praise. Aravinda was a true legend.

[Chaos]

u just digged up a 4 year old thread brah...

[Ranjha]

u just digged up a 4 year old thread brah...

I know..Got inspired by our other posters such as Satyam and company

[vvvslaxman]

Lara against spin >>>>>>>> YUvi against spin. Yuvi is more like Chris Gayle, Adam Gilchrist. Clean strikers of the ball. But you gotta say Yuvraj has more West Indian flair than subcontinent flair. You can associate his backlift, foot movement, flourish more with Windies than Indian players.

[Ranjha]

Lara against spin >>>>>>>> YUvi against spin. Yuvi is more like Chris Gayle' date=' Adam Gilchrist. Clean strikers of the ball. But you gotta say Yuvraj has more West Indian flair than subcontinent flair. You can associate his backlift, foot movement, flourish more with Windies than Indian players.[/quote'] Yea..Viv Richards said he sees shades of him in Yuvi. Big praises from legends.