A Melbourne-based cricket club has claimed that it is very close to striking a deal with Yuvraj Singh and Chris Gayle for its T20 games this summer. The Mulgrave Cricket Club, who play in Melbourne's Eastern Cricket Association (ECA) third-tier competition, said they are also in talks with West Indies legend Brian Lara and South Africa great AB de Villiers. Mulgrave have already secured the services of Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga for the summer with Sanath Jayasuriya as their head coach. Mulgrave president Milan Pullenayegam said talks are on with former India all-rounder Yuvraj and West Indian Gayle.

"We've secured Dilshan, we've secured Sanath, we've secured Tharanga. And now we are working on finalising agreements with a few other potential players," Pullenayegam told 'cricket.com.au'. "We are in negotiations, and with Chris (Gayle) and Yuvraj we are nearly 85 to 90 per cent there. We need to finalise a few things but it looks really good." The two cricketers are, however, yet to comment on the negotiation. The president added the club is trying to rope in more sponsors to sign the big stars. "We've got a good backing at the moment that will get us across the line, but we don't want to be just breaking even on it, we want to be able to give back the community and expand the structure of the club.