Internet Desk: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni lauded the approach adopted by Yuvraj Singh ever since his comeback into the Indian team. Yuvraj , who had a string of ordinary knocks with the bat came good in the match against Sri Lanka yesterday at Mirpur. The elegant left hander powered his way to a strokeful 35 runs off only 18 balls to pave the way for a comprehensive win for India.
“I have always maintained the more he spends time in the middle, the better it is for him. Reason why I am saying this is when you make a comeback you invariably have the pressure within and there is always a huge expectation from you. You are in two minds whether to go out there and play big shots from the start or spend some time in the middle. I think Yuvraj has taken the right approach as it was evident today. He hit some huge sixes and was middling the ball well. He will be a key player for us in World T20.”
The Indian captain praised Virat’s maturity and his ability to convert the starts into match winning scores,“ He knows the importance of converting the 70-80’s into big hundreds. At times he will get out not scoring a fifty, but will convert a start into a big one. I have always maintained he is someone who always wanted to contribute for the teams cause.”
Talking about the injuries in his team , Dhoni commented “ We do have 2-3 cases of sports related injuries in the team , like someone getting hit by a ball or twisting his ankle during a practice . Problems only arise if there is a hamstring tear which might force an individual to sit out for a longer duration. As far as small injuries are concerned, we have the back up and can manage. I hope we do not have any major injuries before the World T20.”
The team management was relieved to see the emergence of Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah. Both of them have opened up a lot many options for Dhoni. “I feel Jasprit has done well with the new ball and have bowled well at the deaths in whatever limited opportunities he has got so far. Pandya has also been impressive so far. The format is better suited for players who bat and bowl well. One can carry his good performance with the bat when he comes to bowl. The team is looking much more balanced now with their inclusion.”
Commenting on the wicket for the Sri Lanka match, Dhoni felt ,“I think the wicket was more ideal for T20 compared to the ones we last played on . Both the wickets we last played on were seaming friendly
and had a lot to offer for the bowlers. People come to watch a T20 game to see batsman score runs.
With his side being confirmed a place in the finals , the Indian captain hinted trying out a few reserve players in the next match against UAE “ We will definitely make a few changes in the game coming up. Most of the reserve players will definitely get a chance, whether all of them will get a chance I am not sure.”