India vice captain Virender Sehwag today threw his weight behind out-of-form Yuvraj Singh, calling him a "jewel" and predicting that the left-hander would soon be back in the Indian side after sorting out his fitness issues.
"He has been a jewel for India and I'm a great fan of him," Sehwag said. "Times like this come because of (lack of) form but I'm sure he would sort out his fitness and batting skills and will make a comeback soon," said the opener. "All he needs is to spend time on his own and think about his game," advised Sehwag.
Yuvraj did not find a place in India's Asia Cup squad because of lack of form and poor fitness. Yuvraj had a forgettable outing in Indian Premier League III and he looked out of sorts in the Twenty20 World Cup as well.
Sehwag too had some injury issues of late but the star batsman said he is fully ready for this month's Asia Cup in Sri Lanka. "My shoulder has healed. I worked on my shoulders in the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore and I'm fully fit now," Sehwag told 'CNN-IBN' channel.
Asked for his view on the young Indian players' technical frailties against short-pitch bowled, Sehwag said they would grow better with experience. "People said the same thing about me. Give them some time and they would get better as they get experienced. Once they play more than 100 ODIs, they would do well. (Suresh) Raina, Rohit (Sharma), Gautam (Gambhir) they would be ready by the time you have World Cup," Sehwag said.
{{/usCountry}}Asked for his view on the young Indian players' technical frailties against short-pitch bowled, Sehwag said they would grow better with experience. "People said the same thing about me. Give them some time and they would get better as they get experienced. Once they play more than 100 ODIs, they would do well. (Suresh) Raina, Rohit (Sharma), Gautam (Gambhir) they would be ready by the time you have World Cup," Sehwag said.
{{/usCountry}}His views were sought on BCCI's decision not to send cricket teams to the Asian Games in China where cricket is making debut in Twenty20 format and the batsman said he could not do anything about it. "It is not in my hand, this is for the BCCI to decide. But wherever they send us, we would go and play," said Sehwag.