India versus Pakistan, Birmingham, June 4 –  over 42.6: India were on a charge, hoping for quick runs as the rain-affected innings drew to a hectic close. Hasan Ali ran in to bowl his final ball of the over, to a batsman he had dropped not too long. One wonders if he was still thinking about that poor display in the field. 

Ali dropped it short, just a tad on off-stump, and Yuvraj Singh opened up, swung his arms in trademark style and bludgeoned the ball over square leg, into the maddening crowd. 

SIX! It could have been a shot from 2000-01 when he made his debut in Nairobi against Australia, in another version of the Champions Trophy (ICC Knock Out back then). It could have been one from 2002 when he, along with Mohammad Kaif, stunned England one fine Sunday at Lord’s. It could have been a page straight out of the 2003 World Cup, or his many partnerships with MS Dhoni afterwards that helped India chase down totals with aplomb. It could have been a recollection of the one among he played in the 2011 World Cup, a tournament Yuvraj lit up with singular performances.  

“Most definitely the 2011 World Cup quarterfinal against Australia, my debut game (in 2000-01 also against Australia) and the Natwest final in 2002 (at Lord’s),” replied the southpaw, on the eve of his 300^th ODI, when asked to pick the top games in his esteemed career. 

When he does step out on the field in the semi-final against Bangladesh on later today, Yuvraj will join a short list of illustrious names – Sachin Tendulkar (463), Rahul Dravid (340), Mohammed Azharuddin (334) and Sourav Ganguly (308) – in achieving this milestone. That aforementioned shot – hit with inimitable style and power – was a summation of memories from all those games, and more, available to his fans to pick and choose from at will. 

And why not? In a way, Yuvraj’s story is Indian cricket’s story, atleast from 2000-01, when the reset button was hit in a bid to clean up the match-fixing saga. 

You only have to look at the adventurism in today’s Indian cricketer. Is there any situation too tough or bothersome for him, anything that he cannot comprehend on the field of play? Take, for example, the India-South Africa game. The Proteas wilted under immense pressure of a must-win game, repeating the same mistakes from their long, arduous past of such errors. For the Men in Blue, it was a simple matter of raising their intensity. 

It has been a step-by-step process, one that began nearly two decades ago under Sourav Ganguly. At first, the onus was on bringing fresh legs, unscarred by the scandals gone past. Then, it was about freeing the mind and instilling a can-do attitude, providing them a stable platform to play, one full of expression. Yuvraj was part of each of these moments, and it was fitting that when India won a second ODI World Cup at the end of this decade-long process, he was the star in that triumph. 

“These past years, nearly two decades, have been about a transformation. I played with the likes of Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid, and back then, it was about learning from our seniors. Today, it is about imbibing whatever we have learnt to the younger guys, the coming generation,” said Yuvraj. His words put this latest comeback to international cricket into sharp focus. 

Laid low from illness after the 2011 World Cup, when Yuvraj had come back to the international fold in 2012-13, it had seemed a half-baked effort. He looked slow, the stamina was gone, and that ability to put on stunning displays at backward-point had all but disappeared, almost as if the game had moved forward too quickly within the slow expanse of two years. Obviously then, the runs didn’t flow, and after two disappointing outings against Australia at home and South Africa away (both in 2013-14), he was left out of India’s ODI plans for the 2015 World Cup. 

Perhaps the lowest point came in the 2014 World T20 final against Sri Lanka at Dhaka. As India rode to the summit clash, there was a worry throughout about Yuvraj’s form. In that game then, his – and the country’s – worst fears came to the fore. He had trouble putting bat to ball, as the Indian team struggled for quick runs in the death overs, surrendering any advantage to their opponents. Lanka won, and Yuvraj cut a sorry figure. It was the last anyone saw him in India colours, atleast for a while. 

It would have been a tragedy of immense proportions if that had been his last on-field memory. Just imagine, the hero of 2007 and 2011, the one who hit six sixes in an over off Stuart Broad, and flayed Australia in Ahmedabad single-handedly, going out in whimpering fashion. Even so, at that stage, it was impossible to see him claw back to the national fold, whether from a neutral or fans’ point of view. 

“The game has become so much more fast-paced. The fitness levels have evolved, and the younger cricketers have so much more knowledge about everything – what to eat, how to train, etc. And they are learning quickly because they are exposed to the IPL, which is a big tournament with international cricketers. The game has evolved big time,” said Yuvraj, describing his 17 years as a microcosm, and presenting it to those who only had an outsider’s assessment. 

Sitting out for all those years, watching the team grow leaps and bounds as new faces came in and World Cups passed by, it isn’t easy for any cricketer, least of all for someone who has been in the thick of things. At this juncture it becomes about motivation, that desire to still wear that blue jersey, to still go out and give yourself to scrutiny by those who were absent when you went back to sweating it out. It makes for some wonderment what Yuvraj told himself when faced with such an arduous climb back to the top. 

“I played domestic cricket for the last three years. I didn’t miss any matches except for when I got married. It helped me keep in sync with today’s pace of the game. That’s the reason why I can spend a lot of time on the ground. I batted well, I fielded throughout, and it is important that as you get older, you push harder. That’s the reason I was able to make a comeback,” he opined. 

672 runs in 8 Ranji innings this past season, including a double hundred, didn’t go unnoticed. Yuvraj made instant impact with a hundred on return in the second ODI against England at Cuttack. Renewing his old partnership with Dhoni batting at no.5, it was the focal point of preparation for India’s stable middle-order ahead of this 2017 Champions Trophy. And he has done well since, flaying Pakistan with 53 off 32 balls in the opening game here at Birmingham. 

There are always questions about the future, though. How long will he continue to play? Was his comeback a short-term solution for this tournament, or did the selectors think he could play in the 2019 ODI World Cup (also in England)? These thoughts don’t count. For someone who has been through so much in the past, only the present matters. 

The author can be reached at @chetannarula

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