Yuvraj Singh was one those talented juniors who benefited from Sourav Ganguly's powerful presence as India skipper. Now as Pune Warriors captain, the former feels it is his turn to lend a hand and extend the senior's career in IPL. The latter was drafted in as replacement for injured swing bowler Ashish Nehra by the Pune franchise.
Yuvraj said: “I share a very good rapport with Sourav. When I started playing cricket, he was a big support for me, so I thought that I should play the role vice versa,” said the Pune Warriors skipper, prior to a training session at D Y Patil stadium.
“Guys like Laxman and Dravid are still playing good cricket and so I though he too deserves a chance. We always looked for an option, the best option. I will get help in captaining the team.
“Sourav can contribute, we have to see first if he is fit to play. He's not played for a long while, so he needs to come in and go through his fitness test. If he's fit we will definitely pick him,” said Yuvraj.
The choice of a batting all-rounder Ganguly as replacement for swing bowler Nehra appears strange. Yuvraj explained, “Our concern was to decide the best option for Nehra. We have a lot of bowlers, so needed someone experienced in the batting line-up who is also an Indian so that it will not hamper a foreigner playing,”
The Pune Warriors captain clarified that Ganguly will not play against Mumbai Indians on Wednesday.
