Ganguly won't play against Mumbai: Yuvraj

Pune Warriors skipper Yuvraj Singh on Tuesday welcomed Sourav Ganguly's inclusion to the squad, saying the former India skipper's experience will be an asset to the team, but ruled him out for an IPL-4 debut against Mumbai Indians on Tuesday.

"He's experienced and I will get help in captaining the team," Yuvraj told reporters here on Tuesday, the eve of their match against Mumbai Indians.

"Definitely he will bring in some experience," he added.

Ganguly, who was on Tuesday picked as Ashish Nehra's replacement following an injury to the left-arm seamer, has however, been ruled out of Wednesday's tie.

The southpaw from Bengal had backed Yuvraj to the hilt as India skipper and for the Punjab lad, it's payback time now.

"I share a very good rapport with Sourav. He was a big support for me when I started playing cricket, so I thought (I) stand to play the role vice versa. Guys like Laxman and Dravid are still playing good cricket and so I thought he too deserves a chance," Yuvraj said.

While Yuvraj is happy with Ganguly's addition, questions remain over his fitness.

"We have to see first if he is fit to play. He has not played for a long while. He has not played much cricket, so he needs to come in and show his fitness test. If he's fit, we will definitely pick him," said Yuvraj.

Picking a batsman for an injured bowler does sound a bit surprising but Yuvraj said Ganguly was picked as they needed experience in batting.

"We always looked for an option, the best option. It was the franchisee's idea because we were waiting for Ashish's (Nehra) recovery. He cannot be fit till the IPL finishes.

"Looking at the batting, we thought we needed someone with experience; that's why we got Sourav.But he would not play tomorrow. He's not in the running," said Yuvraj, who made his international debut under Ganguly.

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