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Business News/ Industry / High hopes for next Mohali chapter in the Yuvraj Singh story
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High hopes for next Mohali chapter in the Yuvraj Singh story

India all-rounder has bitter-sweet memories of playing in the town of his birth, but after a few quiet games, now is the time for a defining innings

Yuvraj Singh walks with his equipment during a training session at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium in Mohali on 26 March, ahead of the World T20 match against Australia. Photo: AFPPremium
Yuvraj Singh walks with his equipment during a training session at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium in Mohali on 26 March, ahead of the World T20 match against Australia. Photo: AFP

A return to the city of his birth is certain to unlock the bitter-sweet memory bank for Yuvraj Singh.

The story of a potential roller-skating hero being forcibly converted into a competitive cricketer by a pushy father aspiring to live out his ambitions through his son has been told too often to be repeated here. Yograj Singh plied his pace bowling wares in one Test and six One-Day Internationals between December 1980 and February 1981. Son Yuvraj, 34, has topped that mark comfortably—40 Tests, 293 ODIs, 54 Twenty20 Internationals.

The driving force behind India’s triumphant march to the ICC World Twenty in South Africa in 2007. The player of the tournament when India reprised Lord’s 1983 at the Wankhede in April 2011 and Mahendra Singh Dhoni lifted the 50-over World Cup trophy. A bit of a letdown in Tests, but a huge limited-overs player whose career hasn’t been an uninterrupted one by any stretch of the imagination. That’s the Yuvraj story in a nutshell.

It was here, at the PCA Stadium, that Yuvraj made a long-awaited Test debut, in October 2003 against New Zealand. The debut only eventuated because Sourav Ganguly had to sit the game out through illness. Yuvraj’s debut was unremarkable—20 and 5 not out after India were forced to follow on. Since then, his Test career had more downs than ups, and when the selectors eventually lost faith in him in December 2012, he wound up with 1900 runs at 33.92, three blazing tons against Pakistan the high points.

It was here too, at the PCA Stadium in October 2006, that Yuvraj sustained an injury that was to have a permanent effect on his career. On the eve of India’s Champions Trophy clash against Australia, Yuvraj slipped during a game of kho-kho and sustained a cruciate ligament injury in his left knee, the ligament tear not just keeping him out of the game for long periods but also snatching away the swiftness and flexibility that had by then made him one of the premier fieldsmen in the world.

Yuvraj now returns to the PCA Stadium in the autumn of his career, hoping to leave one final mark at a venue that hasn’t necessarily been very kind to him, but against an opposition that excites him like no other, particularly when it comes to the T20I format.

After his 21-ball 11 robbed India of all momentum in the 2014 ICC World T20 final against Sri Lanka in Mirpur, Yuvraj the international cricketer seemed a thing of the past. For a year and a half after that, he was steadfastly ignored by the national selectors until, almost out of the blue, he was recalled to the T20I side for the three-match series in Australia in January this year. It was the clearest indication that, with the World T20 no more than a month and a half and 11 potential matches away, Yuvraj would definitely make the final 15-man cut.

The left-handed all-rounder will be the first to agree that he hasn’t really set the world alight since his comeback. In 14 matches and ten innings, he has made just 145 runs with a highest of 35 batting mainly at No. 5; more tellingly, he has only bowled 14 overs in those 14 matches despite a perfectly acceptable economy of 6.71 per over, and his left-arm spin wasn’t requisitioned at all by Dhoni even on the spin-friendly tracks at the World T20 game against New Zealand in Nagpur and Pakistan at the Eden Gardens. Yuvraj the bowler hasn’t sent down a ball in the last four matches, but Dhoni the rabbit-puller-out-of-the-hat could so easily have something up his sleeve again.

India have handled Yuvraj with care and understanding since he joined the team in Adelaide for the first of three T20Is towards the end of January. Not required to bat in the first two games, Yuvraj walked in at No. 5 with 51 required from 31 balls at the SCG for India to complete an unprecedented 3-0 sweep. For the first nine deliveries, he played from bad memory as he brought back the bad memories from Mirpur 2014; it meant the equation had come down to 17 off the last over with Yuvraj on strike to Andew Tye. Where was this headed?

To the sweep, it turned out. The first ball of the final over was whipped powerfully behind square for four, the second pole-axed over deep midwicket for six. Suresh Raina applied the finishing touches, India home off the last ball. Welcome back, Yuvi!

Yuvraj now returns to the PCA Stadium in the autumn of his career, hoping to leave one final mark at a venue that hasn’t necessarily been very kind to him, but against an opposition that excites him like no other, particularly when it comes to the T20I format.

Since then, though, Yuvraj hasn’t played a defining innings, which means either there is cause for concern, or the strong belief—shared by the team—that a big one is round the corner. Or, possibly, a bit of both. His highest score of 35 was made during a modest chase against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup, which he followed up with a muscular unbeaten 25 against UAE. He then played a key hand in making a sparkling 24 against Pakistan at the Eden during a stand of 61 with Virat Kohli, but the vintage Yuvraj has put in no more than only the odd guest appearance.

His cause hasn’t been helped by surfaces without much pace, and where the ball has gripped and got stuck and turned from the off. Yuvraj is as accomplished a destroyer of spin bowling as there is, but that’s only when he has grown into an innings. At the beginning, he loves the ball rushing on to the bat, he relishes having pace to work with, and he has been denied that by the pitches in Nagpur, Kolkata and Bangalore.

The PCA Stadium deck, however, should be a lot more to Yuvraj’s liking. There will be a little more pace and bounce to work with, and while he doesn’t have a great record at this venue in other formats in international cricket, his only T20I knock here produced a blistering unbeaten 60 off just 25 deliveries as India chased down Sri Lanka’s 206 for 7 comfortably in December 2009.

Yuvraj will also take heart from his overwhelming T20I record against Australia. Twice in the World T20 alone, he has made decisive contributions against them—a 30-ball 70 in the semifinal in Durban in 2007, and a 43-ball 60 in Mirpur in the last edition. In all, as opposed to a career T20I average of 29.28, he averages 65.50 against the Aussies in seven hits, and should therefore carry oodles of confidence into a game that India must win to make it to the semifinal.

Of course, the expected batting-friendly conditions should be something the top three of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Kohli also should enjoy after the attritional surfaces in the three previous games tested both their skills and temperament. From India’s perspective, though, and especially if they carry their campaign forward, they will want Yuvraj the batsman to hit his straps. Now.

Mint is in content partnership with Wisden India for 2016 ICC World T20.

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Published: 27 Mar 2016, 03:47 PM IST
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