End of the road?

Veteran southpaw Yuvraj Singh was dropped from the Indian squad for the limited overs series against Sri Lanka in what could possibly draw the curtains upon his remarkable international career. A two-time World Cup winner and one of India's finest limited overs exponent, the 35-year-old Yuvraj's place was always under intense scrutiny. After a 50 against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy opener, Yuvraj went off the boil as his last seven ODI innings fetched him a paltry 162 runs. A senior BCCI official, who is privy to selection policy had said that Yuvraj was out of the reckoning for the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales. "His batting has lost its potency. He rarely bowls and his fielding has gone down a few notches. If we have to prepare a team for 2019 World Cup, we had to take a call now," the official said.

Yuvraj has scored over 8000-runs in 304 ODIs, apart from playing 40 Tests and 58 T20 Internationals. Things also appear rather bleak for India's former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, if the observations of Chief selector MSK Prasad are anything to go by. While saying that Yuvraj had been "rested" and not "dropped" - he was rather cagey when asked if Dhoni figured in India's scheme of things for the 2019 World Cup. "We will see, we will see. The legend that he is, we don't want to make it (public)...but yes we have a plan (for him)," said the former India wicketkeeper. Prasad admitted that the days of Dhoni being an automatic selection had now gone. "We don't say it is an automatic thing... but we will see. We are all stakeholders (in Indian cricket). We all want the Indian team to do well. If he is delivering, why not? If he is not, we will have to look at alternatives," said the 42-year-old Prasad. Prasad hoped that at 36, Dhoni would pull an Andre Agassi, who made a fairy tale comeback to the top of the tennis world in the twilight of his career. "I was just reading (Andre) Agassi's book, 'Open', his life actually started after he was 30. Till then, he had won two or three (Grand Slams). His actual life started after that. He lived with the media pressure, 'When are you going to retire?' But he played till 36 and won so many Grand Slams. So you never know." The clock though is surely ticking for India's legendary Captain Cool who will be 38 by the next World Cup.