Fit Yuvraj uncertain to play against Lanka

Mirpur:

Fit again after recovering from a finger injury, Yuvraj Singh sweated it out at the nets on Monday but the team management remained mum on whether the dashing left-hander would be available for India's ODI tri-series opener against Sri Lanka here on Tuesday.

Yuvraj batted for quite a while at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium nets on Monday morning when the team had a two-hour long optional practice session here.

The middle-order mainstay, who sat out of four one-dayers of the home series against Sri Lanka last month, faced direct throws from coach Gary Kirsten and he did not have any apparent problems while wielding the willow.

He later bowled to Rohit Sharma but looked slightly guarded during the fielding practice.

The team's Administrative manager Arshad Ayub refused comment when asked whether the explosive batsman will be available on Tuesday.

"I can't say anything," was all Ayub said when asked whether Yuvraj will play on Tuesday.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kirsten did not speak to the waiting media.

Meanwhile, pacer S Sreesanth has recovered from swine flu which prevented him from participating in the ODI series against Sri Lanka and he was in full flow at the nets on Monday.

He bowled to Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma and other Indian batsmen and also did some catching practice with mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton.

All through the session, he was in his usual jovial mood. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh decided to stay put at the team hotel while dashing batsman Virender Sehwag didn't practice too much either.

Ayub said there was no cause of concern on Harbhajan and since it was an optional practice, he decided to stay back at the hotel. Other batsmen who had long batting sessions include Gambhir, comeback man Rohit Sharma and wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik.

Promising youngster Virat Kohli and spinner Amit Mishra did some catching practice with Upton.

In the absence of a bowling coach, senior pacer Zaheer Khan played the mentor's role to youngsters Ashok Dinda and Sudeep Tyagi.