We Need BIG Partnerships - Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh can only shrug his shoulders as he spends another couple of agonising days, wondering if his chance will come at least now.

The talented batsman may be a victim of his own laid-back image; or may just be paying a price for the so-called richness in the Indian middle order. Or maybe it's just a combination of the two.

After all, he has been on the Test sidelines since playing his last match almost 12 months ago in West Indies. More painfully, he lost out on the vice-captain's role in One-dayers despite no apparent and valid on-field reasons.

"What can I say about it," he asked. "I would love to play a Test match but it is not in my hands. It's entirely up to the team management," he said.

Yuvraj was among the last batsmen to get a chance at the nets, well behind Gautam Gambhir too, which might be a negative portent for him. It clearly means that the team management hasn't even started thinking about the playing eleven, forget about trying to create a place for him.

Sniffing every minute, and sporting a red nose, he told TOI that he was just going through a bad case of hay fever. "It's been with me for some time," he joked.

However, he couldn't use the Indian team's failure with the bat as a lifeline. "On the first day it was a nice batting track. But once the weather changed, the conditions became tough," he explained.

He insisted that the mood in the camp was nice and positive. "We are disappointed that we didn't get enough runs on the board but a draw is a draw. We probably need to get some big partnerships and we are looking forward to it," he explained.

Yuvraj stressed that it wasn't just idle talk. "The last time we toured here all our batsmen got big runs, we know what to do. We are hopefully prepared enough now; we just need to go out and perform. Nobody takes his game lightly, whether it's a senior or a junior," he added. Talking about the weather, he pointed out, "What can we do about it. We just have to start fresh again," he said.

He confirmed that the gameplan at Lord's was to go after the target. "We thought if the top four get going, we can go for it. But if we lose early wickets, we will settle for a draw," that was the plan, he revealed.