There has been a lot of hue and cry about whether Mahendra Singh Dhoni should persist with out of form batsman Yuvraj Singh in the playing XI for the ICC World Twenty20 match against Bangladesh at Sher-e-Bangla on Friday.
However, going by Team India's nets on Wednesday, the Punjab southpaw could possibly get another chance.
Yuvraj has not looked in good touch of late and has been struggling to get bat on the ball. His performance — one run against Pakistan and 19-ball 10 against West Indies — only adds fuel to fire.
After a long and usual game of football, the players got into the nets where Yuvraj was among the firsts to pad up along with Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. The 32-year-old batted in short sessions and rotated the batting in the nets with Dhawan.
Compared to the earlier sessions, Yuvraj appeared much improved, hungrier and confident. The previous batting sessions had seen him struggle against the pace of Mohammad Shami and this discomfort against fast bowling refelcted in the match as well.
On Wednesday, Yuvraj played his shots with elan. One could not miss his favourite pull shot and cover drives that he displayed in the nets. He still struggled as far as short of length was concerned.
Amit Mishra, too, was at the receiving end of Yuvraj's batting. But the leg spinner won some battles if not the war.
Looking at the way Yuvraj batted, it appears like he is keen to make the critics eat their words.
On Tuesday, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly supported Yuvraj saying not much fuss should be made of his lack of form. "It's only two matches that Yuvraj has not got runs. We should not make a big fuss about it. He is a human being and can go through a tough phase. He has the talent to overcome this. Show me one sportsman who has played at the top level for 14, 15 or 16 years and never had a slump in form? This is bound to happen as that's how the nature of sport is," Ganguly told PTI.
Ganguly said the key was self belief and hard work. "Self belief is always the key and also Yuvi will need to work even harder now. His time will certainly come and he will have to ready to grab his chance then," said Ganguly, who has made several comebacks during his illustrious international career.
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