India rubbish reports surrounding Yuvraj's attitude

Yuvraj Singh, who had a poor Test against Australia in Melbourne, is in the news following reports that the Indian team management is unhappy with his attitude. However, Lalchand Rajput, India's assistant coach, has denied reports that have appeared a Melbourne newspaper.

"Yes, there's a problem with Yuvraj's attitude," the Age quoted Rajput as saying. "We will have to have a one-on-one with him in Sydney."

However, MV Sridhar, the assistant manager of the Indian team, vehemently denied these reports when contacted by Cricinfo. "Rajput has never said anything of the sort. He has not made a comment about Yuvraj. There is no problem with his attitude." Rajput too issued a denial while speaking to Indian news channel, CNN-IBN.

The speculation arose in the wake of Yuvraj being cleared of a dissent charge after standing his ground on being adjudged caught behind in the first innings. Yuvraj, who had been in good form earlier in the season and scored a century against Pakistan at Bangalore three weeks ago, was included in the playing XI for Melbourne after India shuffled its batting order to accommodate him. Rahul Dravid, who usually plays at No. 3, opened the innings while Yuvraj came in at No 6. Yuvraj failed with the bat, scoring 0 and 5 in a match which India lost by 337 runs.

Chetan Chauhan, the manager of the Indian side, also denied the reports that team management was unhappy with Yuvraj. He also said earlier reports of the Indian team asking for a "replacement" - in connection with Munaf Patel being in line for a possible call-up - were not true.

Rajput was confident Dravid would bounce back from the lean patch he has been going through. "I won't say it's any technical problem, it's just in the mind," he said. "I'm sure he'll bounce back because he's a tremendous cricketer." The second Test starts in Sydney on Wednesday.