Yuvraj Singh: Cricket's quintessential comeback player ready for long-haul flight

New Delhi: Yuvraj Singh is the quintessential comeback player of cricket. On Friday, the 35-year-old once again proved that he can't be ignored for too long, and earned a place in the Indian ODI squad after a gap of three years.

The veteran all-rounder last played an ODI for India on December 11, 2013 in South Africa, even though he was a part of the T20I team for majority of India's campaign in the ICC World T20 last year.

He lost that spot too after the tournament, thanks to an injury. He missed two short series against Zimbabwe and West Indies. But this time, he is ready for a long-haul flight.

Ahead of Friday's team selection for the limited-overs series against England, nobody would have thought that the Punjab player will make another comeback in the ODI squad.

He declared that there was nothing wrong with his cricket, and still "have few more years of cricket left" in him. But truth be told, he too must be hoping against hope for an Indian comeback, especially with hosts of young talents emerging.

Once the news of his selection arrived, the southpaw failed to control his emotions and showed his exuberant self on Twitter, which many considered unwarranted from a player of his stature.

He soon deleted the tweet, but it only showed his happiness to make the comeback.

It's not the first time that he is making a comeback after a long lay-off. After making his international debut in 2000, he  has seen numerous omissions from the national team. But he continued to make comeback after comebacks.

With age catching up, the hero of India's successful World Cup campaigns in 2007 and 2011 will sure like to make this a memorable one, and if possible hold onto it for a it longer, just to make up for the lost opportunities he has had.

He is likely to feature prominently in the upcoming ODI and T20I series against England, and also the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy in June.

If everything goes well, he could well go on and play in the next World T20, next year.

By the way, he performed exceedingly well in the Ranji Trophy, scoring 672 runs in eight innings from five matches with a high score of 260.