Saturday, June 13, 2009

Collingwood backs Broad in Yuvraj rematch


England skipper Paul Collingwood believes Stuart Broad will not be intimidated by India's Yuvraj Singh, the man who blasted six sixes in an over off him at the last World Twenty20 in 2007.

England and India clash at Lord's on Sunday in a crucial Super Eights match with both sides desperate for victory if they are to keep alive their semi-final hopes.

Broad's battle with Yuvraj will be key with memories still fresh of the mauling the Englishman received in Durban.

Yuvraj warmed up for Sunday's match by hammering 67 off 43 balls during the defending champions' shock defeat to West Indies on Friday.

"I saw some highlights the other day (of the Durban match) and it proved how raw he was at the time, but what he's done in the last couple of years has been exceptional," said Collingwood.

"Stuart's grown as a man, his skills are much better and his execution is much better. I'm sure he's absolutely relishing this competition that's going to come up tomorrow and I've got no doubts he'll be desperate to come on and bowl when he comes in.

"The last time he was trying to have an answer, but his execution on the day wasn't right.

"He was trying to get those yorkers in and didn't actually get it right, but I think he's proven over the last couple of years how versatile he is as a bowler.

"He can be a really good wicket-taking option but he can also stem the flow of runs. At the moment he's one of the most economical bowlers in the competition, which shows how far he's come as a bowler."

Both England and India need to win on Sunday.

England lost to South Africa in their Super Eights opener while India slumped to the West Indies.

England have a poor recent record against India with their last success in September 2007, when they claimed a seven-wicket victory at Lord's to claim a 4-3 series success as preparation for the 2007 World Twenty20 in South Africa.

Since then India have not lost to England in eight international matches in all forms, but Collingwood will be drawing inspiration from that victory at Lord's.

Asked why he believed England could end that losing run, Collingwood said: "We'll probably take our minds back to a performance we put in against them during that one-day series.

"I know it's a completely different format of the game but we were 3-3 at the time, it was a big pressure game and we came out and won well on that day.

"Sometimes we play our best cricket when we put ourselves under this sort of pressure. We take our minds back to that Pakistan game, the boys were so desperate to do well and stayed very calm about it.

"As a team we're very confident. I know we've had an up and down tournament so far but we're still in with a shout and we know we've got the players in the dressing room to put the performances in on the day."

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