Yuvraj unwilling to risk himself in 1st ODI

Yuvraj Singh insists that he is not ready to aggrevate his injury in the first ODI against Australia at Melbourne.

Yuvraj Singh will stay put in Australia and is set to be available for the tri-series from the second one-day internationals onwards.

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Yuvraj was miserably out-of-form in the Test series and was left out of the third match after he injured his knee in a practice session. Though Yuvraj has been declared fit by physio John Gloster but he is reluctant to test himself out in the first ODI against Australia in Brisbane on February 3.

The dashing right-hander who is also the vice-captain in ODIs, is surely ruled out of the Twenty20 match in Melbourne on Friday.

India's second match is against against Sri Lanka on February 5 in Brisbane and Yuvraj is looking forward to play there.

Indian board has already called young Manoj Tewari of Bengal as a cover for Yuvraj but signs are the latter would be up for the task for the rest of the series.

Yuvraj's absence in the Twenty20 game in Melbourne though would rob the game of it's star value as the Punjab left-hander is a huge success in this shortest form.

Yuvraj set the stage alight in the Twenty20 world cup in Australia where he smashed sis sixes in one over against the promising young England fast bowler, Stuart Broad.

Young Indian team would need Yuvraj in best of shape in the ODIs and even though no encouraging signs have emerged in the last few weeks, the sight of a familiar format and coloured clothings could spark a revival in one of India's most talented bats.