Yuvraj Singh has been asked to bowl in order to improve his batting and he takes this advice rather seriously as it comes from none other than Sachin Tendulkar.
Tendulkar spent a great deal of time in the nets with the left-hander before the start of the three-day game in order to put the exciting stroke-player back on track.
Yuvraj has been an utter failure in the series so far, struggling to last a dozen deliveries, and Tendulkar believed his advice to the princely left-hander can no longer wait.
Tendulkar, it is now known, wanted Yuvraj to bowl a fair deal in the nets and in side games in order to gauge the bounce on Australian pitches.
Yuvraj still has not come to terms with the conditions in Australia and Tendulkar offered a lot of advice for him to overcome the problem.
The Punjab batsman has been adviced not to go for his shots as soon as he comes to the crease on these wickets.
Tendulkar apparently has told him that even he in 1991-92, allowed a lot of deliveries to go before starting to play aggressive shots.
Tendulkar cited the example of his unbeaten 154 in Sydney where he did not go for hook or pull shots even when he was in his 90s.
"At least, don't go for your horizontal shots till you are truly in," Tendulkar is believed to have told Yuvraj.
The veteran cricketer has also noticed that Yuvraj's front leg is going too much across towards covers which is leaving him locked at the point of playing shots.
The option to thrust his front leg forward towards mid-off has been suggested.
This particular problem of Yuvraj has been accentuated against the spinners.
Yuvraj has also been identified to be showing a tendency to jab at deliveries, rather than flowing into his shots. It is not allowing him the necessary control on his strokes.
Tendulkar's sanguine advice apparently did not quite work for Yuvraj who suffered another failure in the first innings of the three-day game against the Australian Capital Territory Invitational Eleven on Thursday.
Yuvraj made just two and when it came to bowling, sent down only five overs in yet another listless display.
Former captain Rahul Dravid does not want to lose hope on Yuvraj and believes the second innings of the game offers him another chance to return to form.
"He still can do well in the second innings. It was only two Tests before when he had hit that big century (169 in Bangalore against Pakistan).
