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Asia Cup: Focus over 'T20-specialists' Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina as India face Lanka test

New Delhi, Mar 1: As suspense prevails whether key players, including skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, would be making it to the Playing XI in today's (March 1) game against Sri Lanka, all eyes would be on experienced players in the side.

Focus in today's game would be over two of India's T20-specialists i.e. Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina. It will be interesting to see how they perform against Sri Lankan bowlers on Mirpur wicket.

Ind vs SL: Focus over Yuvraj, Raina


Both, Raina and Yuvraj are match-winners for the side ever since this format was adopted. But, so far, both these explosive batters haven't lived up to their own standards in the ongoing Asia Cup T20 tournament.

While Yuvraj Singh, who made a comeback after a long break, has spent some crucial time at the crease and showed his brilliance with the bat only in patches; Raina on the other hand is still struggling to read the 'unexpected' green pitches at Mirpur.

Yuvraj Singh was recalled into Indian side owing to his solid performances in the domestic circuit. But so far his performance, ever since his recall, does no justice to the reputation the 34-year-old batter owns.

Yuvraj has been anything but impressive in his 8 outings since his return in Australia. Did Not Bat, DNB, 15*, 10, 0, DNB, 15 and 14* are the numbers which hardly do any justice to a number five batsman in a squad that has won 7 of its last 8 T20Is.

In the Asia Cup the left handed batter has scored 15 and 14* against Bangladesh and Pakistan, respectively. Thus, in the absence of experienced MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, who are injured and may not feature in today's game, it is crucial for Yuvraj Singh to fire against Sri Lanka.

Whereas, Raina in both the matches he played in the tournament has failed to judge the ball's movement and thus perished very quickly on both the occasions. After his failure in matches against Bangladesh (13) and Pakistan (1) a big knock is due from India's best T20 player in the side.

Also, it's very important for Team India that Raina regains his form ahead of World T20, which is not far away. If the left-handed batter resumes his trademark 'explosive form', then there's stopping Team India.

If these two T20 specialists regain their lost touch then Team India could win not Asia Cup but also be a team to beat in the ICC World T20.

OneIndia News

Story first published: Thursday, August 3, 2017, 7:29 [IST]
Other articles published on Aug 3, 2017
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