Yuvraj Singh out, Mahendra Singh Dhoni fit to lead side

MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag and now Gautam Gambhir... You must be wondering how and why so many Team India players were hit at the nets in the last two days.

Here’s the reason: The Men in Blue were practising chin music. The Indian batsmen, facing Australia in the seven-match ODI series that starts in Vadodara on Sunday, were batting against short stuff at the nets.

Sehwag got hit on his chest and his Delhi teammate Gambhir took a blow on his helmet. Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel and Praveen Kumar were told to hurl short-pitched deliveries at the batsmen. “The injuries are not serious. They were practising against short balls and some had taken it on their bodies,” said a top BCCI official, allaying fears about any worrisome turn of events.

It is, however, more or less certain that Yuvraj Singh has not recovered enough to be eligible for Sunday’s ODI. “He will not be playing tomorrow,” a team management source told this newspaper.

“We had informed the media during the announcement of the squad that Yuvraj’s availability for the first match is subject to his recovery. If he is not playing tomorrow, he will surely be fit to play in the next game”, the Board official said.

It has been learnt that skipper Dhoni will take the field. Injury to his knee is not serious. “Yes he will play,” said a source.