Giving a thumb down to Sreesanth's behaviour in the match marred by frayed tempers, Yuvraj Singh said the paceman should learn to control his aggression.
HYDERABAD: The Indian team on Thursday sought to distance itself from S Sreesanth's verbel duels with the Australians in the second cricket one-dayer in Kochi with vice-captain Yuvraj Singh saying such histrionics were not part of the team strategy.
Giving a thumb down to Sreesanth's behaviour in the match marred by frayed tempers, Yuvraj Singh said the paceman should learn to control his aggression and concentrate more on his game.
Sreesanth's gesture towards Andrew Symonds after catching him out off his own bowling was widely criticised though he managed to escape any punishment from the ICC Match Referee.
"He (Sreesanth) needs to control his aggression. In Kochi game, both the teams showed flared tempers. Sreesanth needs to show more of cricket and less of talk. It is not a strategy. We have come here to play cricket," said Yuvraj on the eve of the third cricket ODI.
Yuvraj admitted the hosts neither batted nor bowled well in the second match while the Australians executed their plans well.
"This game did not go our way. Australia planned well and executed well. We did not bat or bowl well enough. We did not bowl well after 30 overs. We did not play to potential in any department," he said.
The Punjab batsman, however, expressed confidence that the Indians would bounce back in the series.
"There are five more matches. We will bounce back. We have decided that the best eleven will play."
Asked if the team was feeling the need of a coach, Yuvraj attributed the defeat to the team's lack of consistency in one-dayers.
"Out team stands together. But we have not been showing consistency in one-day games. We are trying to get better. Obviously, it is not about a coach. Every team demands to have a full time coach. At the moment, there is nothing lacking in us. If we play to our potential, I am sure, we will win."
Yuvraj also refused to agree that the visitors would go with an advantage in tomorrow's game.
"You cannot say that after one game. We have five more matches to go. As for tomorrow's match, we have 50-50 chances," he said.
Yuvraj said they would consider changes in batting order only after having a look at the wicket.
"It depends on whether we are batting first. We have always made a couple of changes. We cannot decide at the moment. We will have a look at the wicket once more beforedeciding the playing eleven.
"Last time we played here, we scored 250 plus. The wicket looks like a good batting strip," he added.
On the spinner's lacklustre performance in the last two games in Bangalore and Kochi, he said "it is not slow or fast bowlers. Everyone has to pick wickets, if we have to keep the run rate down. Everybody have a job to do."
On rotation of senior players, he said "Yes. It is our plan for the future. We may not execute it immediately."
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