Indian captain MS Dhoni says he has extraordinary batsmen in Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina besides openers in top order; assures the explosive left-handed batsman will get his opportunities
Explosive batsman Yuvraj Singh's return to the Indian team hasn't been the kind that he would have expected.
Agreed that he has not got enough chances to prove himself. He has batted in three innings out of five since his comeback and has been unable to deliver in whatever opportunities he has got so far except for the crucial knock to win the third T20I in Sydney.
In Sydney, he batted at No. 5 and got India home with a cracking boundary and a six off the first two deliveries of the final over off which 17 were needed.
Back in India against Sri Lanka, the southpaw hasn't made the most of the chances that he got. In the first T20 in Pune, the Punjab batsman fell for 10 on a seaming wicket. Off the very first ball, he stepped out to off-spinner Sachithra Senanayake and thrashed him over his head. A few balls later Yuvraj mistimed seamer Dushmantha Chameera, his leading edge landed in the hands of bowler.
With seven balls left for the innings to end, the dashing batsman had another chance to show his explode on a batting paradise in Ranchi on Friday. But, he lost it and got out for a zero.
With little time to settle in the middle-order, it would be unfair to judge Yuvraj's batting. However, the Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni felt that it would be 'slightly difficult' to bring him up the order.
"If you see, Yuvi bats for us at No. 5. Now, it is a bit difficult to promote him above five because in top four, two openers are there and Yuvi can't bat there. At No. 3, Virat Kohli is batting and Suresh Raina is there at No. 4. These four have extraordinary record in T20 in India or outside. So it is slightly difficult," said Dhoni after the second T20I in Ranchi, where India won by 69 runs to level the series going into Sunday's decider in Visakhapatnam.
Dhoni, however, said he would like to give the left-hander more batting opportunities. "Going in the 17th or 18th over and playing straight away will be difficult because he is a proper batsman who can hit. He has always found it slightly difficult. So, we will see how it goes. But definitely, I will try that he too gets exposure and batting opportunity in coming matches.
"But again we want to win games and that will be our priority. But we will see how it goes," said the captain.
Dhoni insisted that all the batsmen will get enough chances in the run-up to the ICC World T20 in March-April. "Everybody gets a chance to bowl and a lot of time you can experiment with the bowling. But what happens in batting (is) you want to win games and at the same time you want to give individuals fair amount of time in the middle. So, it doesn't always go as planned.
"Definitely in the coming games, we would love to give everybody opportunities so that when T20 starts everyone looks good, getting a fair amount of exposure," he explained.
Dhoni had good words for Hardik Pandya, who impressed with his 12-ball 27. "This is what he is known for. He can play the big shots and go straightaway and play the big shots."
Dhoni said he was happy to see man-of-the-match Shikhar Dhawan (51 off 25 balls) playing proper shots. "I think most important is that he is playing proper shots. At the same time, he is not trying to over hit. The good thing is he is able to get boundary in the first couple of overs then he doesn't need to take a lot of risk."
Yuvraj Singh since comeback:
Adelaide: Did not bat
Melbourne: Did not bat
Sydney: 15* in 12 balls at No. 5, going in at 15th over
Pune: 10 in 14 balls at No. 5, going in at 6th over
Ranchi: 0 in 1 ball at No. 7, going in at 19th over
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