Ganguly deserves a place - Yuvraj

Yuvraj Singh has said that Sourav Ganguly deserved a place in the team for the England series and not just as a replacement.

Yuvraj, who's taken Ganguly's spot in the Test side, will miss the first Test against England because of a hamstring injury, and felt that Ganguly should be included in the team. "Sourav is a great leader," Yuvraj told NDTV. "He deserves a place in the team. I do not bother much about my position. I'll play whenever my chance comes.

"He [Ganguly] has played 48 Test matches as a captain and of course I am sure he'll be out there. He will be there in the team for the first Test. He is a great leader and mentally very strong. He's always supported me and given me a lot of confidence. I respect him."

Ganguly was dropped for the second Test in Faisalabad after not getting a chance to bat in the Lahore Test in the recent tour of Pakistan. He played the third Test at Karachi and scored 34 and 37 and was not picked for the one-day series. Yuvraj made a hundred in the second innings at Karachi and scored 344 runs at an average of 172 in the one-day series. He finished his tour with a matchwinning 107, during which he sustained his injury. "It is not just about maturity," said Yuvraj. "If I have a good series people say that I have become mature. But slowly by playing games you learn more. It's a part of evolution as a cricketer. But I still don't mind being the bad guy of the class. I've always been like that."