'It will be awesome to come back to the Indian team'

By Anand Vasu
Yuvraj Singh is not a numbers man. He is the sort who has always preferred action. But occasionally, there comes a time when action men need to be reminded of some numbers. In 293 One-Day Internationals – more than Adam Gilchrist, Saeed Anwar, Chris Gayle, Stephen Fleming or Arjuna Ranatunga, all fellow left-hand batsmen, managed in their careers — Yuvraj has 8329 runs at an average of 36.37 and a strike rate of 87.24. But a comeback into the Indian team is still far from a taken. Here are excerpts from a chat.

It’s a World Cup year and thoughts will turn to 2011, when you were the star.But your life has changed a bit since …

My life has changed. It took a serious high and then a proper U-turn where I was battling for my life. It’s been an interesting story. I just try and be as positive as I can, to come back and play cricket. I’m lucky to be playing again. I haven’t played to the best of my potential since I’ve come back, but I have always been trying my best, and can only have a positive attitude to life.

What are the challenges before you?

It’s been a bigger challenge since my recovery from cancer. How good you were as a player before was different. Because, your body went through a complete change. So, my body has taken its time to come back to normal. Obviously as you leave your 30s, you have to work harder on your body, and I’ve done that. The results haven’t come out as I would have wanted them to.

The comeback to ODI side is harder for you because you’ve only been part of the Twenty20 set up, in the recent past …

It’s always disappointing when you don’t make it to the side. But, that said, the last two years have been patchy, up and down. Hopefully things will change, and I will be picked again, otherwise life will be very depressing. I can only try and do my best.
There’s always plenty of speculation about your health and fitness. Where exactly are you?

I’ve trained quite hard. It’s been two years of hard work. I’ve never felt so good. I’m in much better shape than I was when I played the 2011 World Cup. I promise you that. Playing on one lung and playing on two lungs are completely different.



Is there added anxiety because the World Cup is upon us and there’s not that much time left to make a case for yourself?
There will be anxiety because the World Cup is close by and there aren’t too many opportunities in domestic games in the lead up. But, eventually, what can you do? I can only try and take the opportunities I get. The young guys in the Indian team are doing well. Let’s see how it goes.

You’re not alone in fighting to make a comeback. Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir … they’re all in a similar situation. Do you guys talk about this?

We talk. We always talk about the time we spent playing for India. We all know that those were the most amazing years of our lives. But, life still goes on, even when you’re not in the team. You just have to be positive and keep working hard. We understand why we play the game, the love for the sport. We have to play for that reason rather than think only about what people are seeing.

With so little cricket to go before the World Cup, there’s hardly any time to make a case for yourself. How does that make you feel?

I can’t really speak about selection. What is the best opportunity that I have? Duleep Trophy, the Ranji one-dayers and whatever other games I can get. As I said, if I can make it to the squad, it will be a great story. It will be awesome to come back and play for India in a World Cup again. If it doesn’t happen, life goes on, and it will be hard to accept, but I’ll have to accept it.
I’m not the first player that this has happened to. Lot of players who have had cancer have not been able to get back to sport at all. I’ve been lucky enough to come back and do well for India – not as consistently as I would like, but at least in a few games. I have the belief that I can still turn it around.

Do you sometimes feel you’d like a break from talking about cancer? Or do you see this as a second chance at life and therefore central to who you are?

This is definitely a second chance at life. Maybe I was destined to come back and play for India, and that’s why I’m still alive. I don’t know what the reasons are. There are times when I go to a YouWeCan event, I talk about cancer and awareness and early detection, which is important. But also, sometimes I do wish people understand that it’s also important for me to just focus on the game and playing it.

Wisden India