Gambhir welcomes Harbhajan and Yuvraj’s national return

Gautam Gambhir, the promising top-order batsman of India, on Saturday welcomed the return of all-rounder Yuvraj Singh and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh to the Indian team, after staying away from the national set-up for quite a while.

The Punjabi duo, along with leg-spinner Piyush Chawla and seam bowler Lakshmipathy Balaji, was on Friday recalled to India’s T20 squad for home series against New Zealand and the ICC World T20 Championship in Sri Lanka.

“Yuvraj has been a match-winner and it is great to see him back in the team,” said the 30-year-old left-hander from Delhi, who has also been reinstated as Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s deputy for next month’s esteemed tournament.

He however did not agree with the perception that Yuvraj’s presence or absence could have a considerable bearing on setting the mood in the dressing room, maintaining that it does not depend on any particular individual, rather it is about the collective effort from each and every member of the team.

Yuvraj Singh, the 30-year-old all-rounder returns to the game of cricket after battling a cancerous lung tumour. The all-rounder has not played a limited-overs game for India since his Player of Series performance in last year’s ICC World Cup. He last played a Test for his country in November last year.

On Harbhajan’s return , the Delhi lad said, "I am happy that Harbhajan is in the squad because in big tournaments, you need players like him. It`s just not like that he has played 98 Tests and 229 ODIs. He is a big-occasion man."

Harbhajan faced axing from national side after struggling on tours of West Indies and England. His last appearance for the men in blue had come in August last year, during the winless tour of England.

Whilst Cheteshwar Pujara is being discussed amongst the Indian cricket pursuits as the fitting option to fill in Rahul Dravid’s boots at No. 3 spot in Tests, the Delhi dasher did not name any particular player who, according to him, could be an ideal No. 3 batsman.

"It's not easy to replace someone like Rahul Dravid,” said Gambhir.

“We have lot of talented batsmen. It can be Virat, Ajinkya Rahane or Cheteshwar Pujara all of whom have done well. I wish, whoever replaces Dravid, is able to make full use of the opportunities," he added further.