Punjab Cricket Association has recently requested former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh to come out of his retirement and become a player-cum-mentor of the state team. However, the former all-rounder is yet to respond. PCA Secretary Puneet Bali on Friday said that he had made the request since Yuvraj Singh, who announced his retirement last year, was already mentoring some players which also included the talented youngster Shubman Gill.
“We requested Yuvraj five, six days ago and we are waiting his response. It will be really good for Punjab cricket if he can play and mentor them at the same time,” Bali told PTI.
Last month, the 38-year-old Yuvraj Singh has spent time mentoring the likes of Gill, Anmolpreet Singh, Abhishek Sharma and Harpreet Brar, all of them are set to play in the upcoming Indian Premier League in UAE from September 19.
While Punjab has lost some of their key players in recent years, Bali said the state team will be benefitted with Yuvraj Singh’s experience and mentoring. However, coming out of retirement and train the youngsters may not be easy for the former cricketer.
The BCCI, however, considers players to have officially retired to provide NOCs for overseas leagues as well. Yuvraj Singh, on the other hand, has played in two such tournaments in the past year – the Global T20 Canada and Abu Dhabi T10 League after announcing his retirement.
The left-handed batsman, who was a vital cog of India’s 2011 World Cup-winning team, has played 40 Tests and 304 ODIs between 2003 and 2017 too and proved his every time as well.
On the other hand, Tthe BCCI has received the formal approval from the central government to host the 13th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) in the UAE, IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel has revealed the news on Monday.
“Yes, we have received all the written approvals,” Patel told PTI when he was asked whether the permission has come in writing from both the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Notably, if an Indian sports body shifts a domestic tournament outside India, they require the clearance from Home, External and sports ministries respectively to host the tournament there.
“Once we had the verbal okay from the government, we had intimated the Emirates Cricket Board. Now we have the papers also, so franchises can be intimated that everything is in order,” a veteran BCCI official said to PTI on conditions of anonymity.
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