Yuvraj, playing his first international event after recovering from a rare germ cell cancer, has been in decent form both with the bat and ball besides making his mark as an agile fielder. The 30-year-old effected a run out, picked up two crucial wickets besides contributing 19 runs with the bat in the Super Eight win against Pakistan last night which kept India's chances of making the semifinals alive.

"If we look at our combination, we play seven batsmen and you can't leave out someone like Yuvraj Singh. We had never considered the option of leaving out Yuvraj," Dhoni said at the post-match press conference.