Rajput denies speaking against Yuvraj

He put a hand around his shoulders as they exchanged a few jokes prior to their evening engagements. It was a pleasant sight actually, specially since it came a few hours after India's interim coach Lalchand Rajput was quoted in The Age ridiculing the attitude of Yuvraj Singh in the Melbourne Test and his desire for a one-on-one talk with him regarding the matter after they reached Sydney.

But that report was false. Yes, Rajput and Yuvraj were talking to each other today —but it was more about dress sense than attitude. And the entire team had the sense to ease out a situation which could have snowballed into a crisis before the Sydney Test. Team India are looking for a fightback, not a fight within.

Rajput was an angry man indeed, saying he was quoted out of context and denied all the reports about him saying things on Yuvraj. "I am really surprised to see how it has all been written. I completely deny this, because I just spoke at the media conference and everyone was present. So I don't know where it all came from. Neither me nor the team management has any complaints against Yuvraj and we are purely focused on the second Test match," he said.

Manager Chetan Chauhan also cleared the air about Yuvraj. "I would like to clear the reports about that the team management not being happy with one of the batsmen. That again is not true. We do discuss issues but that was about it," he said, adding: "The bad dream (in Melbourne) is over. We assure you that the team will bounce back in this series."

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