Hyderabad: Renowned cricket coach Yograj Singh said his son Yuvraj deserves a Bharat Ratna for his contribution to Indian cricket and also asserted that former India World Cup-winning skipper MS Dhoni 'ruined' his son's career, cutting it short by at least four years.
Yograj has always criticised MS Dhoni for his son Yuvraj's early retirement from white-ball cricket, alleging that he made life difficult for his son during their days together in the senior national men's team.
The 66-year-old also emphasised that Yuvraj made a memorable comeback after overcoming cancer and he needed "Second innings" which he didn't get, mentioning that Yuvraj could have contributed more to the senior national team.
"I won’t forgive MS Dhoni. He should look at himself in the mirror. He is a very prominent cricketer, I salute him. But what he did to my son is unforgivable. Everything is coming to light now, and it can never be forgiven," Yograj told Switch YouTube channel.
"That man has ruined my son's life, who could have played for four to five more years. I challenge everyone to have a son like Yuvraj. Even Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag have said that there will never be another Yuvraj Singh. India should award him the Bharat Ratna for playing through cancer and winning the World Cup for the country," he added.
Meanwhile, in a previous interview on Ranveer Allahabadia's podcast, Yuvi said, "Me and Mahi (Mahendra Singh Dhoni) are not close friends. We were friends because of cricket, we played together. My lifestyle was very different from him, so we were never close friends, we were only friends because of cricket."
Yuvraj and Dhoni played 273 matches together for India, forging several memorable partnerships across all formats. Dhoni was the notable presentee on the non-striker end when Yuvi smashed six sixes in an over during the 2007 T20 World Cup while the left-hander was on the non-striker end when the wicketkeeper-batter hit an iconic six to help India win the ODI World Cup in 2011. It emerged that the 2011 ODI World Cup Player of the Tournament Yuvi was suffering from Cancer.
He was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour in his left lung and underwent chemotherapy treatment in Boston and Indianapolis. Despite this setback, he made a remarkable comeback to international cricket in September 2012.
However, Yuvraj failed to make a similar impact after his return to cricket as his performances were inconsistent, and as a result, lost his place in the Indian team after featuring in the T20 World Cup in 2014 and the Champions Trophy in 2017. Notably, Yuvraj was overlooked for the ODI World Cup in 2015 in Australia where India was led by MS Dhoni for which he faced a lot of criticism from the all-rounder's father.
Yuvraj continued to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) but was not able to replicate his earlier success. Yuvraj Singh officially retired from international cricket in June 2019, bringing an end to his illustrious career. A year later, Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket following India's heartbreaking semi-final loss against New Zealand.
