Virat Kohli, on Saturday, spoke to media for the first time after being handed over the captaincy across formats as he said the selection of swashbuckling all-rounder Yuvraj Singh in the side had much to do with the upcoming Champions Trophy in England.

The mini World Cup, as the cricketing terminology says, Champions Trophy will take place in June and for the reigning champions India, they aren’t left with much preparatory games apart from the three-match series against England, which starts in Pune on Sunday.

Speaking about Yuvraj Singh, Kohli said his selection in the side had much to do with the forthcoming Champions Trophy. He further added Yuvraj’s numbers in first-class cricket put weight on his nomination over others for a middle-order slot.

To fill the number fourth slot, which has been a cause of worry for the Men-in-Blue for some time now, selectors also penned down Ambati Rayudu’s name but later removed it, given his injury prone nature in the longer run. The decision, thus, went in favour of the southpaw, who will be playing his first One-Dayer after three long years.

“We don’t have time to nurture that one spot (number fourth one) as of now as there is a big tournament coming up (Champions Trophy). That’s why Yuvi was brought into the team. We have discussed Rayudu as well but he has been injured from a while. Yuvi has had a very good first class season so he was in the reckoning before anyone else. With him, it gives the team much more balance in the middle order.”

The Delhi-born Kohli admitted he will be taking the bulk of responsibility and that Yuvraj won’t be shouldering the burden in middle-order all by himself. The captain, however, also talked about the side’s lower-middle order batsmen Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya, saying the more they bat around Yuvraj, the more benefit the side would extract out of it.