Series against West Indies A test for Yuvraj: Rajput

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Bangalore: India 'A' coach Lalchand Rajput today said the limited-over cricket series against West Indies 'A' will be a litmus test for Yuvraj Singh, who is desperately looking to get back into the national team."The series against West Indies A will test Yuvraj whether he could make a comeback into the Indian side. Only performance will back him," said Rajput."I think he is very keen on making a comeback with some good performances," he told reporters on the eve of the first ODI against West Indies 'A' at Chinnaswamy Stadium here.The swashbuckling left-hander has been out of favour in the recent times after he was dropped from the Indian squad following a terrible Indian Premier League campaign where he failed to make an impression with both the bat and ball.Rajput said Yuvraj has been working really hard on his fitness and understands the value of performing in the middle."Yuvraj had gone through a very difficult phase in his life and when he made a comeback there were huge expectations from him but he could not live up to it. Now he has worked hard on his fitness. The hunger to come back into the Indian team is palpable," he added.Rajput insisted that the Indians would not take the West Indies A team members lightly as many of them would be looking to impress the selectors in order to get into the senior side, scheduled to visit India later this year."They have got good medium pacers and spinners. They have three spinners as they know, in India they will get spinning tracks. The middle order is good. Overall, it is a good side," the coach pointed out.Replying to a query, Rajput said India A's South Africa tour gave a lot of opportunities to youngsters like Eshwar Pandey, who did well in South African conditions.Meanwhile, West Indies A head coach Junior Bennet said it will be a tough tournament for his team as some of the Indian players will be keen to prove their mettle."India are a very strong team. We have seen them play at the highest level before. So it will be a good test for us. We are looking forward to it," he said.West Indies captain Kieran Powell said he wanted to win the series and looking to get match fit after being injured for a while.