Yuvraj Singh’s story can be compared with those of medieval warriors who after a setback made a historic comeback to conquer.
Yuvraj, who took a nine months sabbatical from the game, made a comeback to the international cricket during last T20 game against New Zealand. He was good in the match but then was far from the Yuvraj that he always was. He then played in the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka and put up a decent all-round performance in the tournament.
His next challenge was to make it to the Test squad, something which looked improbable at that point of his career.
He made a dream comeback to the first class arena and scored a double century to announce his comeback to the longer version of the game. He was selected into the squad for England series due to his fabulous innings. However critics still did not trust his ability and raised questions on his fitness.
But he shut everyone with his brilliant half-century in the first innings of the first Test and left no chance for anyone to attribute his selection to emotional factors.
He was not in his usual self in the initial phase of his innings but then once he got his eyes on the ball, his he was immaculate with his stroke making.
He middled his shots and looked a dominant force. He was looking well set for a century but then holed on in deep while trying to hit a full toss delivery by Samit Patel out of the ground.
He scored 74 off 151 deliveries, including six fours and two sixes. Yuvi could not score a century but then he proved that he has matured over the last one year and the player who always found it hard to cement his spot in the side, has finally made huge statement that he belongs to his format of the game.
His innings left a huge impact and now he can stake his claim in the squad for the longer version of the game entirely based on merit.
Samikshan Dutta Choudhury
