By IANS
Hyderabad : Confident of levelling the series against Australia in the third one-day international to be played here Friday, Indian vice captain Yuvraj Singh said the team would perform on the field rather than get involved in arguments with the opposition.
He told reporters Thursday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium that pacer Sreesanth had been asked to control himself on the field and focus on his bowling.
Yuvraj was replying to queries about Sreesanth’s spat with the Australians during the second one-day at Kochi earlier this week.
“Sreesanth needs to control his antics on the field and focus more on the game. He is aggressive but we have spoken to him about what he needs to do. I hope in the next game he will play more of cricket than do more of talking,” Yuvraj said.
Australia lead the seven match series 1-0 after the first one-dayer at Bangalore was rained off.
Yuvraj, who played a key role in India’s win in the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa last month, was confident of levelling the series despite the huge 84-run loss at Kochi.
Contending that one loss did not mean the team should be written off, he added: “We will try and come back strongly. Things did not go our way in Kochi while they (the Australians) executed their plans very well.”
The left-hander felt that India would need to get good partnerships and bowl well to win. “We haven’t bowled well after the first 30 overs in both games but it is not about slow bowlers or fast bowlers. You have to keep picking wickets to stay in the game,” Yuvraj maintained.
He said a decision was yet to be taken on whether former skipper Sourav Ganguly would play Friday’s match. Ganguly pulled his hamstring while fielding in the Bangalore match and is currently under treatment.
“The pitch looks like a good batting track but we will need to look at the pitch again in the morning. You can expect some changes in the batting order if we bat first, but it obviously depends on the situation tomorrow,” Yuvraj said.
Yuvraj, who had hit a century against South Africa in the first match played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in 2005, said every game would be different but he hoped to do well.
Asked whether the presence of a coach would have made a difference, Yuvraj said: “We have not played consistently in this series but there is nothing lacking in us nor are we missing a coach.”