Yuvraj supports ICC on Twenty20 matches

MUMBAI: Swashbuckling middle order batsman Yuvraj Singh on Tuesday backed the decision of the International Cricket Council to cap the number of Twenty20 internationals played by a country in a calendar year.
    
"It obviously feels great to be part of the winning team in the Twenty20 format, but it's more of an entertainment for the crowd and the batsmen," cautioned the vice captain of the Indian team which won the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa last month.
    
"Hence the ICC's decision to restrict the number of Twenty20 Internationals (seven per country) in a calendar year is (a) welcome (decision)," added Yuvraj who was also the vice captain of the one-day team led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the best-of-seven home ODI series that India lost to Australia.
    
The Punjab cricketer, who went into the record books by slamming six sixes in an over from England pacer Stuart Broad in the World T20 championship, was speaking on the sidelines of a promtional event for Donear Industries of which he's the brand ambassador.
    
Yuvraj, who has played only 19 Tests since his debut in March 2003 but has represented the country in 190 ODIs since his maiden appearance in 2000, made it clear that it was in the longest form of the game that he wanted to excel in to be rated as a complete cricketer.
    
"For me excelling in Twenty20 or 50-over format is not the benchmark. Excelling in Test cricket and performing consistently as a Test player is what I am looking forward to before being called a complete cricketer," said the 25-year- old son of former Test player Yograj Singh.
    
Yuvraj also came out in support of his captain Dhoni on the issue of non-stop cricket making the players a tired lot and said breaks were welcome.
    
"We have been playing continuously for the last five months. Certainly bodies get tired. Nobody would like to go to office continuously for five months without any break," the flamboyant left-handed batsman observed.
    
"However, we do feel happy being on the field and playing, since cricket is our job and any break is lovable. We are now utilising this break before the commencement of the series against Pakistan (on November 5 at Guwahati), followed by the tour to Australia."
    
Yuvraj preferred to play with a straight bat when asked about the team's acceptance of Dhoni as the Test captain too.
    
"That's up to the selectors and not for the players to comment," he said.

    
Yuvraj said that when chasing totals in excess of 300 a batsman needed to show his aggressive instincts in order to help the team overhaul such big scores.
    
"If you are chasing 320 runs in 50 overs you have to be aggressive as there's no time to settle down. In a way we are playing Twenty20 cricket in 50-over matches when we are chasing huge totals," he said to a query over his batting style.
    
Yuvraj sought to play down the war of words which featured the build up to the one-day series between Australia and India and said the team was ready for another round of verbal duels when it goes Down Under later this year.
    
"They came here. There were some talks. We will go there and again there will be talks. We are extremely aware of this fact," he said.
    
Pointing out that a tour of Australia was never an easy endeavour for any squad from the Indian sub-continent, Yuvraj hoped that the tour would be an interesting one as was the case during India's last visit to the Kangaroo land in 2004.
    
"An Australian tour is never easy for any team, especially from the sub-contintent. But the team (led by Sourav Ganguly) had played well on its last tour Down Under. So we hope it will be an interesting tour," he said.