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‘Yuvraj has been the backbone’

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: K.R. Deepak

NO PEGGING BACK: M.S. Dhoni will be looking to Yuvraj Singh (centre) to fire on all cylinders in the second ODI on Wednesday.

NAGPUR: Indian skipper M.S. Dhoni is delighted that Yuvraj Singh will be back in the team for the second ODI.

“Yuvraj has been the backbone of the side. He comes in at number four, a slot where you get time to settle down. With the second Power Play coming in, if you have Yuvraj at the crease, you can capitalise on it,” Dhoni said here on Tuesday.

Yuvraj is set to play the second match of the Hero Honda Cup seven-match series at Nagpur on Wednesday after recovering from a finger injury.

“We have a fixed batting line-up, but if the attack has more off-spinners then we might shift Yuvraj to number five,” Dhoni said. “When Yuvraj comes in, we also have three part-time bowlers who can contribute,” he added.

Transition phase

Dhoni said the Indian team’s winning percentage had slipped from its 70 per cent due to the transition phase. “At the same time, we have young players coming in and at the end of the year, we will have youngsters who have played about 30 games and would have learnt enough,” Dhoni said.

The Indian captain also said that Virender Sehwag, who has come back from a shoulder surgery, will not be bowling for a while.

Meanwhile, Australian coach Tim Nielsen expressed hope about Mitchell Johnson playing on Wednesday. “Brett (Lee) is out, but Mitchell woke up a lot better on Tuesday morning. Indications are that he might be available,” Nielsen said.

The coach said the injuries to Lee, Johnson and James Hopes affected the team. “It was a scatter-bomb. I don’t remember a team losing three bowlers in one day. If Mitchell and Brett can’t play, then we are losing about 300 matches in ODIs in terms of their experience.

All about exposure

“Having said that, the only way the young players get better is through exposure. You can practice yorkers in the nets, but it is difficult to bowl to Sachin Tendulkar or Harbhajan Singh when they are on a roll,” said Nielsen.

Nielsen said Shane Watson was capable of performing better. “He was our go-to bowler in the past few months but on Sunday he could not execute his skills. He will get better,” the coach said.

Nielsen praised off-spinner Nathan Hauritz as the “the stand-out spinner” in the first ODI at Vadodara.

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