Yuvraj Singh’s birthday bumps were, well, bumpy. Sorted out and his innings shortened, there will certainly be some soul searching to do as he is perhaps on the last legs of cementing his place in the Indian Test team.
The salvo was already delivered two days earlier when the England skipper, Kevin Pietersen, talked about testing Yuvraj in a Test scenario against the shorter delivery, a luxury not afforded to the bowlers too many times in the one day game. With more leeway with the field settings, Pietersen had plans.
Yuvraj was tested against the short pitched stuff. It also did not help matters that Yuvraj was coming on the back of huge mounting pressure and the situation in which India were placed in the context of the match. But excuses aside, Andrew Flintoff, in particular teased him with rib ticklers and snorters as the prolific man in the one day series failed to capture the magic.
Dhoni must have hoped against hope that Yuvraj would weather the storm and help him eke India out of this unexpected situation. But it was not to be as Yuvraj fell to Steve Harmison, another inspired move from KP, edging an outswinger that only indicated a wretched time at the crease, leaving the critics to chew on his tattered Test innings yet again.
