Yuvraj to miss IPL 5, Sourav to lead Pune Warriors: Sources

No Yuvraj in IPL5

India’s star at the ODI world cup last year, Yuvraj Singh is likely to miss the IPL 5 this season. Yuvraj, who led Pune Warriors in IPL last season, is in United States currently for the treatment of his non-malignant lung tumor. As per reports, Yuvraj will have to stay away from competitive cricket for next 4-6 months. In US, Yuvi will undergo a surgery to remove the tumor completely from his left lung.

Yuvraj was earlier ruled out of the ODI triseries and T20 matches in Australia. Yuvraj hasn’t played one-day cricket since last year’s World Cup. Injury kept him out of the tour of West Indies and his England tour was shortened by a finger injury.

Another big news, as we are learning, is that in the absence of Yuvraj Singh in the IPL, it will be former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly who will lead the Pune Warriors. Sourav was recently signed by the Pune franchisee for the 2012 season of the IPL and was supposed to play the dual role of a player and a mentor. We had earlier reported on 21st January that Yuvraj’s participation in IPL 5 was under cloud and in most probability Sourav Ganguly would be the skipper of the newest IPL team. Source close to the Pune Warriors also informed that Sourav would attend the IPL player auction on February 4th. “Sourav will be responsible for the player signings of Pune at the auction. Being the mentor, he will join the team management at the auction. Official announcement regarding Sourav’s captaincy will come before the player’s auction,” the source revealed today.

Interestingly, Sourav who went unsold at last year’s IPL auction will be on the charge of selecting player’s for the IPL team this year. Architect of successful Indian cricket team, Sourav is now in Australia as a TV commentator for the ongoing Indian tour of Australia.

Last year, Sourav had joined the Pune based IPL side midway during IPL IV as a replacement for pacer Ashish Nehra. Ganguly played the Ranji matches for Bengal this season to be fit for IPL and scored 424 runs (including one century and two half centuries) in 9 innings at an average of 53.

Pune begins its IPL this season on April 6th with a match against the Mumbai Indians. Will Yuvraj Singh’s absence affect its performance? Will it help the team if Sourav Ganguly is made the captain?