Dravid concerned over fitness of Yuvi, Agarkar, Pathan

Rajkot, Feb 10 (UNI) India captain Rahul Dravid today expressed concerns over the fitness of Yuvraj Singh, Ajit Agarkar and Irfan Pathan on the eve of the second one-dayer against Sri Lanka to be played at the Madhavrao Scindia cricket stadium here tomorrow.

All the three are yet to recover from the niggles that kept them out of the first match.

At the pre-match conference, Dravid told mediapersons that of the three, Agarkar, who has been down with flu, had a better chance of playing tomorrow although he was unlikely to be cent per cent fit.

''Agarkar bowled a few overs in the nets. He is still a bit flat,'' Dravid said.

Pathan has a sore shoulder while Yuvraj is nursing a stiff back.

Dravid, however, said there was no serious concern with Yuvraj and the back injury was only just a niggle which should be fine in a few days time. ''The major thing here is that Yuvraj, who was out with a serious knee injury, has recovered fully from this injury and that is a good sign. The back injury is not serious and he should be fit very soon,'' Dravid added.

Speaking about his young pace bowlers, who have gone for a few runs in the last few games, Dravid said the young bowlers will take time to adjust to these conditions. It is not easy and the young bowlers do take more time to adjust. However, the good thing for us is that Munaf Patel has been our best bowler and I hope he continues to excel. We have a good balance in youth and experience and I am sure the young bowlers would learn sooner than later.

Dravid jokingly addec that it was better to have these injuries now then later during the World Cup.

On the Sri Lankan team, Dravid said they are a very good team, even without Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas.

Dravid also informed that Sehwag would be in the playing eleven but would not open. Ganguly and Uthappa were doing a fine job and there was no need for it, the captain said.

UNI