Yuvraj Singh: A hero who never gave up

Yuvraj Singh has overcome plenty of hurdles on and off the pitch

There was a young boy in Chandigarh, who came to his father after winning a gold medal in skating. Such was his father’s obsession with cricket that instead of praising him; his father took the medal off his neck, threw it out of the car and said - “From now on, you are going to play cricket”.

His father himself had played cricket for India at international level. But I am sure not many would have guessed that the boy would indeed start playing for India as a teenager and become one of the greats of the game.

The boy was none other than Yuvraj Singh and the world came to know about the boy when he made his ODI debut in the ICC Champions Trophy in 2000 in Nairobi.

In only his second match, the 18-year-old Yuvraj took the attack to an Australian line up consisting of Glen McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie and scored a match winning 84 runs. There has been no looking back since then and he went on to establish himself as one of the mainstays of India’s middle order.

One of the cleanest hitters of the cricket ball

There are not many better sights in world cricket than watching an in-form Yuvraj hitting balls to all the parts of the ground. Cricket has seen many clean-hitters of the cricket ball and Yuvraj Singh would rank at the very top.

His batting has always had a sense of elegance attached to it. And this elegance was evident when he hit Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over in the 2007 T20 World Cup. There was not an element of slog in any of the shots and all the six were proper cricketing shots.

Another trademark of Yuvraj has been is his ability to perform on big occasions.

So far, he has been part of two World Cup winning squads for India. In both the 2007 T20 World Cup or the 2011 ODI World Cup, he played a crucial role.

In the 2011 World Cup, he was the player of the tournament for his brilliant all-round display. He scored 362 runs, took 15 wickets and won four Man of the Match awards.

His biggest battle in life

After his World Cup heroics, it looked like the world was at his feets; but as they say life is a great leveller. Tragedy struck and he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Forget about cricket, but there were bigger things to be taken care off.

In such circumstances one would have thought that the days of Yuvraj as a cricketer were all but over. But Yuvi (as he is fondly called) has been a fighter all his life.

A story from his Ranji days best showcases his spirit to fight. As a 15-year-old, Yuvi was dropped from the Ranji team owing to his poor fielding. Now, we all know that he grew up to become one of the best fielders that India has ever produced.

Great people have this ability to turn weakness into their strength and it was no different with Yuvraj. His transformation as a fielder saw him being compared to the likes of Jonty Rhodes (who is considered by many as the greatest fielder to have step foot on a cricket field).

His comeback post-cancer was by far the greatest comebacks that he had ever made in his life. His come-back match was a T20 match against the Kiwis and although India lost the match, Yuvi won the hearts.

It was indeed an emotional moment not only for Yuvi but for the entire cricket fraternity. Later, Yuvraj said that he had tears in eyes when he stepped onto the pitch.

The Future

But shortly after his emphatic comeback, he went out of favour with the national selectors and currently is not part of the Indian team in any format.

But if his performances in the Indian domestic season is anything to go by, one could soon see the man with six sixes, make a return to the national squad. He has performed well both in the Ranji trophy and in the ongoing Vijay Hazare (India’s domestic One-Day tournament) trophy.

And with the next T20 World Cup slated to be held in India next year, there is more than some hope for Yuvraj. His left-arm spin along with his batting could come in handy on Indian pitches.

Today as the prince of Chandigarh celebrates his 34^th birthday; I am sure a come-back would be on his minds. It is indeed credit to the man, who still aspires to play for the country after having achieved so much at the highest level and more importantly having battled one of the worst diseases known to mankind.

As a Yuvi fan, I wish him a very Happy Birthday and hope that I will again get to see him in India colours flicking bowlers off his legs or hitting sweep shots of fast bowlers.