Yuvi confident of keeping the title

Yuvraj Singh admits to only a quiet confidence as India put the finishing touches to the ICC World T20 preparations.

Yuvraj headlined the early stages of India's run to the title in the inaugural staging of the tournament in South Africa two years ago, by hitting England's Stuart Broad for six sixes in one over.

That was payback for conceding five himself to England's Dimitri Mascarenhas in a one-day international at The Oval shortly beforehand.

Coming good with ball too

 

Yuvraj, however, has since uncovered the knack of taking Twenty20 hat-tricks in his guise as captain of Indian Premier League franchise Kings XI Punjab.

There can be little doubt then that the 27-year-old knows a thing or two about how to perform with bat and ball in the shortest form of the game.

He knows, too, though that Twenty20 can be notoriously unpredictable - and that is perhaps why he is taking nothing for granted as India look to build on an encouraging warm-up campaign when they take on Bangladesh in their opening Group A fixture at Trent Bridge on Saturday night.

"We are pretty confident, but the thing is the Twenty20 format is a very unpredictable one," he told the International Cricket Council's Cricket World audio show.

"You never know what is going to happen. But India have a very solid team, and we are very confident about defending it."

IPL stint will help

Yuvraj is convinced that those players coming straight from the recently-concluded second edition of the IPL, in South Africa, will hold a significant advantage over their opponents.

"The World Cup comes at the right time after the IPL," he add.

"We've had enough games to practise in the Twenty20 format.

"But it's not only Indians - other players all around the world also have that advantage.

"I think everybody will have had the practice to come and play the Twenty20 World Cup."

T20 is good fun

As for his own Twenty20 prowess, Yuvraj explains much of it has to do with pure enjoyment of the format.

"It is good fun. There is not much time to play yourself in - you have got to start from ball one," he said.

"To hit six sixes is great when you think about it - but to take two hat-tricks is amazing for a part-timer like me. That's quite funny. I'd be happy with one."

Warning for Broad

As for Broad, Yuvraj is pleased to see he has recovered so impressively from his Durban mauling - but appears keen to renew hostilities when the opportunity arises. "Anybody can have a bad day, and Stuart has been doing really well for England," he said.

"I'm sure we're going to be in the battle once again."