The road ahead for Yuvraj Singh, one of India's best loved

Yuvraj Singh

The 33,000 crowd present at Wankhede were stunned by what they were witnessing. It was the fifth occasion in less than five minutes that Yuvraj Singh had slashed his bat hard at a Hardik Pandya delivery and connected with nothing but thin air. He had enough of this and was clearly embarrassed. To think of it, they were all deliveries that the Yuvraj of old would have dispatched over the deep mid-wicket fence or sent scurrying towards the point boundary without much fuss and a lot of flamboyance.

Even on his worst day, Pandya was just the kind of bowler he would feast upon; medium pace, back of a length line with no movement either in the air or off the wicket. But here, in front of the Wankhede crowd he was looking completely out of sorts, out of touch, and mightily embarrassed. Notably, it was not the lack of runs which was a concern but instead the complete absence of the awe-inspiring aura that once defined his batting. It was, unfortunately, a reflection on how his IPL would turn out to be, for its entire duration.

Yuvraj Singh and DD – A costly affair

Yuvraj Singh was bought by Delhi Daredevils’ franchise for a record fee of Rs 16 crore at this year’s player’s auction. Last year too, he had attracted a huge amount, Rs 14 crore from Royal Challenger Bangalore(RCB), which was also a record. With the title of the most expensive player in IPL, Yuvraj had a huge task in hand to live up to his name; a task in which he failed quite disappointingly.

The 33-year-old finished IPL 2015 with 248 runs in 13 innings with each single run of his costing close to Rs 6.5 lakh! He managed only 2 half centuries in his 13 innings. Further, as the statistics state, Yuvraj scored a meagre 248 runs off 210 balls in 13 innings(14 matches) with 2 half centuries to his name and his highest score being 57.

His average (19) throughout the IPL was abysmally low and his strike rate was 118. His bowling figures were not very flattering either – he bowled 9 overs and conceded 72 runs and bagged only one wicket.

Will Yuvraj be able to reincarnate himself?

Currently, the ballistic southpaw is a timid and pale shadow of his aggressive, confident and authoritative self. The confident swagger with which he would enter the field is no more. Although his commitment to the game and his talent are beyond question, doubt still lingers as to whether Yuvraj will be able to reincarnate himself and break the shackles?

It is with great grief that one has to definitely acknowledge that Yuvraj is way past his prime and there are no purple patches up ahead for him. The thought of seeing an Indian cricketing hero and legend fall from grace is one which is witnessed by the Indian fraternity with much sadness. When Yuvraj batted well, he struck the ball more cleanly than anyone else, his bat swing and the arc that it generated were sights to behold.

There was an elegance, a flair about him, breaking through from time to time from the swagger that defined him. And most importantly, he made you watch cricket, made you watch him bat. Having fought with cancer and then subsequently, having made his way back to the Indian team is a feat which only a few notable sportspersons have the will power to accomplish.

A Poor test record

Notwithstanding his ability to overshadow everybody on his day, if Test cricket was the sole parameter of accomplishment, Yuvraj Singh might be referred to only as a decent cricketer.

Between Nairobi in 2000 and the recently concluded IPL 2015, Yuvraj’s journey has been nothing but a roller-coaster. As Harsha Bhogle, when queried about Yuvraj Singh, once remarked, “He is a prankster and seemingly in love with life but beneath he is a deeply sensitive young man. I have met people who are not what they seem to be. Yuvraj, I suspect, is one of those, a flashy lifestyle, glamorous friends, society headlines but a simple, sensitive person just beneath. I always had suspected that there was someone else within him, a fact that emerged from the book he wrote after his traumatic experience with cancer.”

Winning the World Cup of 2011 was the crowning glory in Yuvraj’s career as a cricketer, but coming back to play for India post cancer was stirring. That a person could go through such an ordeal and then walk out to bat for India again makes his comeback glorious and emotional. Even though his post-cancer cricketing statistics do not reflect his innate ability of being able to win matches, it seems irrelevant in a long career graph.

The balance that he provided to the Indian team made him the lynchpin of the team, especially during the course of the 2011 World Cup. But, the lynchpin has witnessed a steady slump in his fortunes ever since the World Cup.

Yuvraj Singh is an Indian Cricket team player in the past tense

When Yuvraj Singh first arrived, he was arguably the most devastating and exciting talent in India, matched only by perhaps Virender Sehwag who followed a couple of years later. A prolific and stylish performer in the under 19 age group, he was widely acknowledged as the most naturally gifted player since Sachin Tendulkar.

He had panache and style; he was also blessed with the gift of timing and was a brilliant fielder to boot. Those who witnessed the rise of this young prolific player surely predicted a long and productive career for Yuvraj. But after 14 years of international cricket, he has 8329 ODI runs in the bag, a feat to be proud of, but only 1900 runs in Tests, which is staggeringly low and poor for a player of his calibre. When he has been in form, he has been destructive but most of the times he has struggled for consistency and thus, has relinquished his place in the side every now and then.

Yuvraj has given us so much to cheer about that it has been an effort to write about him as an Indian Cricketer in the past tense. Now, the feet movement is more restricted, the reflexes have mellowed and the electric pace across the outfield is non-existent. Nevertheless there is joy and struggle and sadness in life as in sport, and Yuvraj Singh has conquered all.