Yuv got to fancy Indians to Singh

INDIA hope experience will count as they head into their fourth successive global 50-over semi-final in six years. They won two of the previous three tournaments and are hot favourites against Bangladesh at the Oval today. India are a side full of players who have won global tournaments, led by their former captain MS Dhoni. But when it comes to experience, 35-year-old Yuvraj Singh (above) is out on his own as he prepares for his 300th one-dayer for India – still belting the ball as hard as ever. Skipper Virat Kohli said: “We’ve been in these kind of games before quite a few times. But there are no guarantees in this sport, Bangladesh are a very dangerous side on their day. “We don’t take anything for granted and we will use whatever momentum we’ve gained in this tournament to execute what we want to. “We have Yuvraj and his contribution to Indian cricket has been outstanding. He’s been a total matchwinner for India. “He has won us so many big tournaments and big series, and this is just a testimony to the kind of talent he possesses. You obviously need to have all those things in place to be able to play 300 games for India. “I hope this game is a special one for him.” Bangladesh, once the whipping boys of world cricket, have developed into a formidable side in recent years and skipper Mashrafe Mortaza reckons all the pressure is on India. “I know that on our day we can do anything, to be honest,” said Mortaza. “But we are the team that is trying to improve ourselves a lot. The fact is for the first time in our life we are playing in a semi-final – but India have more pressure because of the huge population that is following them.”