Arguably one of the finest white-ball all-rounders of all time, Yuvraj Singh went through a difficult phase in 2014, a year after he returned to the squad after recovering from cancer.
From the rampage in Johannesburg, to the magical 2011 World Cup, there is hardly anything that the great man from Punjab has not achieved in his career. Yuvraj was undoubtedly India’s best player in the 2007 T20 World Cup, playing an instrumental role in India’s victory, and also was the player of the tournament in the 2011 50-over World Cup, where India lifted the World Cup trophy after a gap of 28 years, while fighting another heroic battle against cancer.
However, post his recovery and his subsequent return, Singh did brilliantly to return to the Indian side, but one setback in the 2014 T20 World Cup final continues to haunt him to this day. He struggled to get the ball away, with Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara bowling excellent death over spells, finishing on 11 runs in 21 deliveries.
The left-hander insists that those times were one of the lowest points in his life, and also felt that the team management did not back him enough during those difficult times. While speaking on Sports18’s Home of Heroes, he also said that he was low on confidence and felt that any game would be his last.
“During the T20 World Cup in 2014, I was very low on confidence. There was an atmosphere where I could get dropped. It’s not an excuse but I wasn’t getting enough support from the team. From the time of Gary, I was in Duncan’s era and things had completely changed in the team.
“When the final came, I just couldn’t hit the ball. I tried to hit the off-spinner and I couldn’t hit it and it went for dots. I tried to get out, I didn’t get out….Everybody thought my career was over after that.
I also thought my career was over. But that’s life. You have to accept that. If you accept glories, you must accept your defeats as well and you must move forward.”
he stated.
Yuvraj also took the example of MS Dhoni in 2019. He said that despite the former skipper not being in the best of form, the team management, Virat Kohli and former coach Ravi Shastri in particular, backed Dhoni till the very end, support that was not accorded to him during the difficult phases in his career.
“Look at MS Dhoni towards the end of his career. He had so much support from Virat and Ravi Shastri. They took him to the World Cup, he played till the end, and went on to play 350 games. I think support is very important but in Indian cricket everybody will not get support,”
Yuvraj concluded.
