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'India's 'big-four' need to click in Perth'
The 'big-four' of India's batting department need to fire in unison to fish the team out of troubled waters if the visitors want to make a comeback in the third cricket Test against Australia, starting Friday at Perth, feels Yuvraj Singh.
"If India has to do well guys like Viru (Virender Sehwag), Sachin (Tendulkar), Rahul (Dravid), (VVS) Laxman all have to fire together, get good partnerships going and I am sure they will bounce back in the next Test match," Yuvraj said.
The dashing left-hander, who has been forced out of cricket with a non-malignant tumor in his lungs, however credited Australia for putting up a great performance in the first two Tests of the four-match series.
'Credit must go to Hussey and Ponting'
Yuvraj particularly appreciated the way former captain Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey returned to form in Sydney and silenced their critics."You need to give credit to the Australians, they have played very good cricket.
Everybody was writing Hussey and Ponting off, those are the guys who came and scored and made the difference along with Michael Clarke," he told the Times Now.
Yuvraj, however, was hopeful of India making a comeback into the contest and also rubbished reports of rift within the team as reported by the Australian media.
"When the team is loosing you are bound to draw criticism. I don't agree that there is any rift in the team, these are issues created by the media. I just hope they have a good Test match and everything dies down. I am sure altogether they will pull something special," he said.
Great character shown by Anil Kumble
Drawing a parallel between the current series Down Under and the previous one played under Anil Kumble's leadership in 2008, Yuvraj said the team showed great character in bouncing back after the "monkeygate" episode in Sydney four years ago.
"I think our bowlers distributed the wickets in between. We had very good partnerships between Sachin, Rahul and Laxman, which helped us to get a good score, and got them out early.
"It was a great comeback after what had happened in the Sydney Test last time. It was great character shown by Anil Kumble," he recalled.
The 30-year-old, who last played against the West Indies at Kolkata in November before being diagnosed with the tumor, said he was "desperate to play Test cricket" but conceded that playing through deteriorating health was a mistake.
'I have always been desperate to play Test cricket'
"I have always been desperate to play Test cricket but at that point of time my body was not 100 per cent fit. After I got the news that the tumor was non-malignant I thought lets get to 100 per cent fitness and then play cricket," Yuvraj, who played the first two Test against the West Indies with the lung infection, said.
"I should have not played but I always put my country before myself, which was again right thing to do. Like I said I wanted to play Test cricket so I was compensating with my body which was not the right thing to do. But in the end I realised if you don't have a cent per cent fit body you cannot go and perform for your country," Yuvraj revealed.
But having passed the difficult phase, Yuvraj said he is now working hard to get back to his full fitness and make a comeback to international cricket in the upcoming tri-series in Australia.
"Looking forward to represent my country once again. Hopefully, I get a nod to play in Australia and I do really well for India," he said.