This is our best ODI team: Yuvi

BRISBANE: Vice-captain Yuvraj Singh stoutly defended the selection of a young team for the ODI tri-series.

He said the young players in the side have done commendably in the Twenty20 and should be given enough opportunity to prove their potential.

“Seniors like Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid are top players and they would be missed in Australia but then it’s a time India started planning for the future. You have to look at the future,”

Yuvraj said and then emphatically added: “This is the best one-day team.” The India middle-order batsman, sidelined due to an injury, said the young batsmen need time to perform and pleaded for patience from fans and media.

“I can tell from my personal experience that it’s not possible to expect youngsters to perform consistently. They wouldn’t be making big hundreds at No.6. They will learn slowly and slowly and must be given time.”

Yuvraj said the Indian team is not best prepared but hoped they would overcome the problem. “They obviously haven’t got used to the wicket and conditions It’s a pressure but then you have to be mentally prepared.”

Yuvraj rubbished the claims of Michael Clarke that Australia have meticulously planned for each Indian batsmen and that planning paid off  in Friday’s T20 clash. “Frankly, it wasn’t great deliveries which got our batsmen out.”