Sangakkara, Yuvraj Dismiss Reports Of Rift

Kings XI Punjab skipper Kumar Sangakkara and star player Yuvraj Singh on Thursday  dismissed reports of a rift between them and said too much should not be read into the side's rough patch in the ongoing Indian Premier League.

Stories are doing the rounds that Yuvraj, going through a prolonged bad patch in the Twenty20 tournament, is sulking after losing captaincy to Sangakkara, who doesn't enjoy the full support of some players.

Sangakkara, who is back at the helm after serving a one-match ban for the team's repeated slow over-rate, however, begged to differ and said all negative stories stem from the outfit's poor performance in IPL III.  "These stories come out when the team is losing and not doing well. There is no rift," Sangakkara said.

 "Of course there is a lot of disappointment when the team is not winning and the key players are not putting up their best performance. But there is no anger, never any direct criticism of any particular player or any personnel," said Sangakkara ahead of tomorrow's match against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Dismissing reports that he and Yuvraj were not on best of terms and that it was affecting the team morale, the Sri Lankan said, "Today you saw the warm up game we had. All the local, domestic, Indian and international players got on so well together. I believe that's the way cricket is. When you lose everyone opens themselves up to criticism, some fair and some unfair."

Yuvraj, meanwhile, sounded annoyed with the reports of a 'rift' between him and Sangakkara.

"If anybody is out of form, it does not mean you (media) can write anything," an angry-looking Yuvraj told a group of journalists as he kept walking towards his car after practice.  "You cannot just go on and write one is against the other without any basis. Whatever is being written and said is not correct. There is no rift," said Yuvraj.

Sangakkara threw his weight behind out of form Yuvraj and said such bad patch was common for a cricketer.

"If you take any player, good or bad, some days they perform, some days they don't. Unfortunately, Yuvraj's preparation had been hampered by injury. In this competition, it's like a pressure cooker atmosphere. There is no let off, no time for rest and you have one game coming after the other," explained Sangakkara.

"Yuvraj is one of the best T20 batsmen in the world. Over the years, he has proved it with his performance. He is one player who is expected to perform every single game," said the Lankan. PTI

The Indian Express had reported on Thursday that Yuvraj Singh was at loggerheads with his team captain Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, so much so, that the two are not even on talking terms. 

The report mentioned Sangakkara's reaction to Yuvraj's inclusion in Team India for World Cup Twenty20.  Last Friday, a few hours after India's squad was announced, Sangakkara asked a television reporter at the PCA Stadium in Mohali if he knew who had made the cut. On hearing the name Yuvraj Singh, Sanga let out a gasp. “Yuvraj? Are you sure?”Team insiders said vibes between the former captain and his successor have gone from the once-warm to glacial, the report says.

The main problem, said these insiders, is that Yuvraj has failed to come to terms with the way the captaincy was snatched from him months before IPL3 got under way. And Sangakkara firmly believes that he deserves a hundred per cent from every player in his team, and Yuvi simply isn't giving his best.

In this cloud of grievances and mistrust — real and perceived — between its two brilliantly talented cricketers, lie the seeds of KXIP's problems this year. In many ways, their situation is similar to that of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 2009 season.

Common to both sides is the experience of an Australian coach stripping the local star of captaincy and handing the reins to an overseas player. For Kolkata, it was John Buchanan, Sourav Ganguly and Brendon McCullum; for KXIP it is Tom Moody, Yuvraj and Sangakkara.

In 2009, Kolkata had won only one of the first seven games that they played; this season, KXIP are in exactly the same position in the won-lost table after their loss to Mumbai on March 30. In 2009, Kolkata finished last; KXIP will be trying desperately to avoid that fate in 2010.

Five of KXIP's six losses have been by margins of over 30 runs or 4 wickets — a walloping by T20 standards. Just one of its batsmen figures in the list of top 15 run-getters; one bowler in the top 20 wicket-takers.Said a young KXIP player, “The management hasn't been able to get Yuvi paaji on the same wavelength.  The vibes between him and the captain are not warm at all.”

At team meetings, said the player, Yuvi is mostly silent. Those who watched KXIP's 4-wicket loss at the Brabourne on Tuesday couldn't help but notice his isolation on the field, his natural energy and morale-boosting effervescence missing completely. And then, there are whispers about his outburst at Sanga at the post-match party.

That Yuvi hasn't scored — he averages 14 from 7 games in IPL3 — and has looked somewhat unfit, hasn't helped either him or his floundering side. Wrote former Test batsman Sanjay Manjrekar in a recent column: “Yuvraj is looking slightly overweight and is not as athletic as he once was... Couldn't he have done what many recovering injured players in this situation do — watch that diet and with it, the lifestyle?”