Cricket is a game of uncertainties. It can turn a player into a hero in minutes, and also ruin someone’s career in minutes. But a few players stand out as exceptional heroes despite of running through rough patches and bad form for years. One such cricketer is the Indian batting maestro Yuvraj Singh. Being the man of the series in T20 world cup 2007, and the world cup 2011, the ‘Prince of Punjab’ was going through the form of his career before the nation and Yuvraj himself were shocked when he was diagnosed of cancer. Almost everyone in the cricketing world and India had thought that was the end of Yuvi’s cricketing career if not life. A lot of prayers were carried out all over the country for his safe and speedy recovery. The destiny was gracious enough. Yuvraj survived. His love for life and passion for cricket was so high that he was ready to roll in cricketing arena back again in the span of an year. Yuvraj had beaten cancer, and he had challenged life all over again. But the comeback was not at all a cakewalk for him. From being a flamboyant driver of the ball in the offside to a batsman who failed to connect the ball which was moving away from him, Yuvraj had gone a long way. He was not the Yuvraj who would lazily drive the ball over covers for sixes, or just with a flick of the wrist would clear the mid-on/mid-wicket boundary. The cricketing fans were annoyed with his performance when we scored a 11 of 21balls in the 2014 world cup, a man who had won world cups had become the spoiler this time.
But that is history now. The never give up attitude of Yuvraj was evident in his innings against Pakistan in Asia cup. Even though he didn’t score much he anchored there in the middle when the ball was doing all sorts of movements. The match against Srilanka saw the glimpses of the old Yuvi who cleared the fence twice with mere flicks and drives. He held his ground well in the match against UAE scoring quickly to wrap the match up for India. He said that he felt good to be in the middle and to bat. He looks more confident and energetic in the middle now. He stands as a live example for the quote, ‘Form is temporary, class is permanent’. Another advantage with him is the overs that he bowls in for India picking up wickets when needed. If he continues to score this way, he is once again a player to watch out for in the world cup later in march. He would over shadow the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Dhoni when he gets going. We hope and wish that “YuviStrong” fires and does great for himself and also for India in the quest of yet another world cup. All the best Yuvi J
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