Sree hurls a 'beamer', close shave for Yuvraj

Bangalore, February 24: Yuvraj Singh just about escaped a possible major injury when a 'beamer' from Sreesanth struck his left hand during Thursday's practice session at the National Cricket Academy here. 'Main bach gaya, aur kya. Boy, I was lucky,' said Yuvraj, who has off and on been getting injured for over four years now, on returning to the Royal Gardenia.

Sreesanth did promptly apologise, but Yuvraj wasn't too impressed. Understandably so. Later, he regained composure and resumed batting. The 'beamer', clearly, was the sole talking point at Team India's extended session in the lead-up to Sunday's marquee match, against England. 'We've had some good sessions and I'm happy with the way the players have been gearing up,' coach Gary Kirsten said.

He didn't comment on England. 'I'm focusing on my team...I did watch England's opening match (against The Netherlands), but don't want to discuss the opposition.' Asked if Ashish Nehra was fit, Kirsten replied: 'He's getting there... We'll give him a couple of more days.' Vice-captain Virender Sehwag, who'd been in discomfort in Dhaka, looked to be absolutely fine. Incidentally, till late in the evening, there was nothing to suggest that he would finally sport a number on his shirt.

'Let the International Cricket Council (ICC) place its views on the number-issue in writing, then we'll see,' somebody associated with Team India pointed out. Kirsten was mum on the likely XI, but a well-placed source insisted that leg-spinner Piyush Chawla would play in place of Sreesanth. Apparently, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kirsten are inclined to field a 2-2 attack, with Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel keeping their places.

It may, of course, be back to 3-1 if there's rain in the air and conditions overcast on Sunday. It rained for a while early in the evening and rain has also been forecast for Friday. Meanwhile, fans (many of whom had spent the night on the pavement off the Chinnaswamy) were lathi-charged in the morning when a limited number of tickets ' 7,000 ' went on sale for the public. Such a ridiculously low figure was bound to cause unrest.

Indeed, there was pandemonium and, hours later, one still saw broken barricades and hundreds of sandals and chappals strewn all over. Many, it's gathered, received injuries. 'Look, for a match of this nature, even if you double or triple the number of tickets for the public, it won't be enough...

But all is not lost, as tickets which get returned by the ICC, would be on sale online,' explained Jawagal Srinath, the Karnataka State Cricket Association secretary. Fans who'd bought tickets for the original venue, Calcutta, were given the option of either transferring them to Bangalore or taking a refund.