“(The 50-over World Cup in) 2019 would be a goal for me to achieve”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has revealed that he has his sights set on representing his country at the 2019 World Cup in England.

Yuvraj’s international career was halted in 2011 after it was found that he had a golf ball-sized tumour in his lungs.

When asked where he gets his spark from, Yuvraj told Reuters: “I think it’s the passion for the game. I don’t want to sit one day and think ‘Oh, I should have played a few more years’.

“I want to end where I feel this is it and this is how much I would have played. Given the opportunity, I still feel I have a few more years to excel.

The 34-year-old did make his comeback, but his glory days seemed to be behind him. However, he continued to be given opportunities to represent India, most recently at the 2016 World Twenty20.

Unfortunately, his campaign came to an end in the final Super 10 match against Australia when he injured his ankle. Yuvraj admitted that he was gutted to see India fall to the West Indies, who went on to win the tournament, in the semi-finals.

“It was pretty disappointing,” he said. “You have an injury before the World Cup semi-final and I was preparing to play the World Cup for a while.

“(The 50-over World Cup in) 2019 would be a goal for me to achieve. But for that I need to work very hard and I would have to perform very outstandingly. I will try and look forward to do that. If I can reach 2019 it will be huge for me.”

Meanwhile, Yuvraj has also made it clear that he wants to revive his Test career as he has not played the longest format of the game since December 2012.

“Definitely, I am a big underachiever in test cricket,” he said. “But I can’t really take out anything because I didn’t have many opportunities.

“We had lot of greats playing in the team. For seven years of my career I was mostly the 12th man for test matches.

“When I actually had a spot, I got diagnosed with cancer. So it’s been unfortunate but I’ve been lucky that I’ve been able to play again.”