Australia could suffer some more pain in the form of a dasher whose twe One-Day International tonsin Hyderabad have ended up in Vain
Australia could suffer some more painu00a0in the form of a dasheru00a0whose twe One-Day International tonsin Hyderabadu00a0have ended up in Vain
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India vice-captain
Yuvraj Singh. PIc/Suresh KK |
A Yuvraj or prince merits royal treatment, and there could be no better place to dish out that kind of royalty to him than the city of nawabs.
The prince of India's middle-order, Yuvraj Singh has had a blast almost every time he's paid a visit here with the Indian cricket team for a one-day international. And going by his current form, there's enough indication to suggest that he could get going at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium once again in today's fifth ODI against Australia.
After sitting out of the first match of the series in Vadodara, the stylish left-hander gave a glimpse of what he is capable of in the second game in Nagpur, scoring a 24-ball 23 studded with two fours and a six before rather uncharacteristically lobbing one back to pace bowler Ben Hilfenhaus. In Delhi however, the 27-year-old cleverly slowed down his scoring rate (78 off 96 balls) in keeping with the slow surface at the Kotla while partnering skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for a match-winning fourth wicket stand of 148. Game Four at Mohali saw Yuvraj depart prematurely on his home turf, thanks to a fine fielding effort from Australia skipper Ricky Ponting, who knocked down the stumps as Dhoni and Yuvraj attempted a quick single.
No misfortuneHowever, Hyderabad could hold no such misfortunes for Yuvraj, who got his first 50-plus score on Indian soil here (see box). The Punjab ace then returned to the same venue in 2003 but managed only seven runs.
However, Yuvraj was not particularly required to get a big knock in this one, as Sachin Tendulkar (102) and Virender Sehwag (130) had already done the bulk of the scoring to see India post a mammoth 353 against New Zealand. Yuvraj then scored his first century here (103) against South Africa as the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Uppal staged its first international match in 2005. A couple of years later, Yuvraj again top scored (121) here, this time against Australia. Both his three-figure efforts in Hyderabad ended up in vain.
The Australians have marked out their dangerman for today's match. "Yuvraj is a fine middle-order batsman.
He's got such beautiful hands with which he hits the ball so sweetly on slow wickets as well as quicker ones.
The way he batted in Delhi scoring without taking any risks at all on the slow pitch was very crucial.
Fortunately, Ricky (Ponting) managed to run him out in the previous match. So he's definitely the man to watch out for in the Indian middle-order," Australia coach Tim Nielsen said yesterday.
While history is on Yuvraj's side, Hyderabad has proved to be a nightmarish venue for host teamsu00a0 be it Deccan Chargers or the Men in Blue. They haveu00a0 invariably failed to win here at Uppal. But then, great men have always fought and altered the course of destiny. Yuvraj will be hoping to do the same.
