BackYuvraj Singh | A Test of strength
Yuvraj Singh's book is the story of a journey, through cricket, cancer and friendship
PremiumNEW DELHI :
It was 2011, and Yuvraj Singh seemed to be having a dream run. India won the ICC Cricket World Cup in April that year, after a gap of 28 years, and Yuvraj was the player of the tournament. What wasn’t immediately apparent was that for about a year, he had been ignoring signs that all was not well with his health.
“As athletes we are trained to deny pain, to train and nourish our bodies lifelong so that the body will leave the mind alone," he writes in The Test of My Life: From Cricket to Cancer And Back.
Launched by Sachin Tendulkar in the Capital on Tuesday, Yuvraj’s memoir recounts the twin stories of how he came to be a professional cricketer and how he fought cancer for a new “start to the old life" as a sportsperson. The Test of My Life is co-authored with ESPNcricinfo’s Sharda Ugra and Yuvraj’s manager and childhood friend Nishant Jeet Arora.
Ugra, who met Yuvraj several times over seven months till December to complete the book, says that through the memoir, the cricketer wanted to communicate what had happened to him. “He (Yuvraj) likes people, the cheering, the fans. It was like he was saying, ‘If you like me hitting sixes, also see me like this.’"
She adds: “(M.S.) Dhoni had said even before the World Cup that Yuvraj had been throwing up. Everybody had seen those signs, but they put it down to anxiety or tension." Ugra adds that in the months leading up to the World Cup his life had been “cricket and illness, cricket and throwing up, cricket and injuries".
Yuvraj decided in the early days of chemotherapy that he would document his response to the treatment. He started keeping a video diary, and would post on Twitter regularly. On 9 February 2012, he tweeted: “Finally, the hair is gone!" And two weeks later, he posted: “Got bleyomycin today! I tell you tht gives me the chills! Don’t no how to spell tht nasty drug!"
The book, in some ways, is an expansion on these updates on the social networking site. For example, he devotes more time to talking about how in the third week of treatment he started losing his hair. “On Day 16, I position myself over my bathroom sink and to running commentary from Bunny, who was the first of our friends to arrive in Indianapolis, saying, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, presenting our very own Yuvi Brynner,’ I put the electric razor to my head…. At various stages I looked like a punk, a Brahmin, and finally I would like to think Vin Diesel."
“I was amazed at how he came out in public to talk about his illness," says Ugra. “He’s become the face of Indian cancer survivorship, and he’s not shy about it." She adds that it was great working with him because “with him, what you see is what you get. He’s open and articulate, and not too worried about image."
That Yuvraj kept his sense of humour through the ordeal is thanks in part to his resilience as a sportsperson and the support of his teammates. Yuvraj writes that when he was undergoing chemotherapy for mediastinal seminoma, a rare but largely curable form of germ cell cancer, and recovering, he drew strength from the times cricketing legends Anil Kumble and Tendulkar came to see him.
Kumble, who was in Boston, US, at the time, flew south-west to Indianapolis, where Yuvraj was undergoing treatment. “Anil bhai was majestic, his presence calming, and of course the next day he laid down the law. He said, ‘Stop watching YouTube videos of your matches. Cricket will come back one day, concentrate on your health, focus on your recovery,’" Yuvraj writes.
He continued to receive such reinforcement through the months he spent in the US, London and finally in India, when he was still unfit to play. A visit from Tendulkar in London gave him confidence that things would look up. “When he (Tendulkar) walked into the room, he almost knocked me off my feet the moment he was through the door. Such was the fierceness of his hug…. I was with my friend. I felt that from here on I would be ok," he writes.
The camaraderie between the members of the Indian cricket team was evident on Tuesday when Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Ashish Nehra and Tendulkar attended the launch of Yuvraj’s book. While Tendulkar said Yuvraj had “handled those toughest days in his life with great courage and positivity", Dhoni and Harbhajan shared stories of their friendship. Dhoni related how, one year into playing with Yuvraj, he worked up the courage to ask him if he genuinely got angry a lot, only to be told that Yuvraj was joking more often than not. The result: “I would often not take him seriously, even when he was genuinely angry," said Dhoni.
“Telling my story in my words," said Yuvraj, “it reveals a journey that has given me a new sense of understanding about not only pain and despair but also hope and courage."
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!
