Yuvraj under pressure to hold spot for Sydney Test

SYDNEY—Changes are likely in the Indian team with Yuvraj Singh under the gun to hold his place for the second cricket Test against Australia in Sydney, reports said Monday.
India interim coach Lalchand Rajput has admitted Yuvraj has an attitude problem, with the 26-year-old disappointing with the bat and in the field in the tourists’ 337-run shellacking in the opening Test in Melbourne.
Rajput told reporters he intends to speak with the No.6 batsman amid speculation he may pay the price for India’s inept performance in the Boxing Day Test. Yuvraj scored a duck and five and despite being much younger than the many senior players in the Indian team was languid in the field.
He also received a charge of dissent from the umpires, for which he was subsequently found not guilty by match referee Mike Procter after a hearing.
“Yes, there’s a problem with Yuvraj’s attitude,” Rajput told The Sydney Morning Herald. “We will have to have a one-on-one with him.”
Rajput confirmed changes to India’s batting order were likely for the Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground starting on Wednesday, but he declined to outline his intentions until he has surveyed the pitch. Rajput supported under-fire top-order batsman Rahul Dravid, suggesting the former Indian skipper would hold his place in the side, albeit not in the opening role he occupied in Melbourne.
Dravid appeared a shadow of the batsman who dominated the Australians on India’s last tour here in 2003-04, scoring just 21 runs from 180 deliveries in the two innings.
“I won’t say it’s any technical problem, it’s just in the mind,” Rajput said of Dravid. “Because when a batsman goes through a lean patch, when he can’t get runs, I think that’s the area he has to work on.
“I’m sure he’ll bounce back because he’s a tremendous cricketer, everybody knows it. Rajput conceded the brittle opening partnership between Dravid and Wasim Jaffer placed pressure on the remainder of India’s batsmen in Melbourne, raising the likelihood of Virender Sehwag or Dinesh Karthik slotting in at the top of the order.
Rajput said he was confident his side would provide a better showing in Sydney. “We will definitely be coming back very strongly next game,” he said.
“It is very important we work on that because there are two strategies in cricket, one is to be defensive and one is to be offensive. “In the first Test we were a bit defensive, but definitely we will come back very strong because we have some strategies.”—Agencies