Yuvraj Singh finally came on his own during India’s five wickets victory over Sri Lanka and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said the swashbuckler has shown he can still hit sixes at will.
Yuvraj scored 35 runs off 18 balls that included three sixes and as many boundaries to expedite India’s march to victory. In the previous match, Yuvraj had played a crucial role in reviving India’ chase against Pakistan, though the big strikes were missing.
Dhoni said Yuvraj had been adopting a “good approach”. “I had said earlier also, the more he would spend time on the crease, the better it would be for him. His approach has always been good. He is someone who likes to spend time on crease before going for his shots at the right situation. Today he showed he can still hit sixes at will. Sometimes when you make a comeback, you put a lot of pressure on yourself. So it was important for him to spend sometime in the middle,” Dhoni told reporters.
Dhoni was also appreciative of Virat Kohli’s performance and said he was someone who always look to contribute and has been fantastic for the side.
He, however, refused to term it as revenge win. Sri Lanka had beaten India in Asia Cup final in 2014 at the same venue. “I am someone who lives in the present. It was a good win and I would leave it at that,” he said.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews conceded that regular defeats could have a damaging affect on the confidence of the side ahead of World Cup. “It is certainly damaging for our confidence. We just can’t keep losing. It is a matter of worry that our batting hasn’t clicked. May be we will have to try a few combinations or need a new approach in the batting,” he said.
Mathews admitted India looked a strong unit ahead of World Cup. “India are playing really good cricket at the moment. They have maintained the same squad for the last two years and have stuck to it before Asia Cup and World T20. And it is really paying now,” he said.
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