There is a reason why it was called the Botham's Ashes. 399 runs, 34 wickets. Sir Ian Botham was captaining an English side that was woefully low on morale. To make matters worse, this wasnt they best English side you would have seen either. To single handedly pick up a wreckless bunch of players and take them to Ashes Glory takes a lot out of you.
You could see similar signs at Motera, Ahmedabad. Yuvraj Singh was not playing the dashing southpaw we loved a couple of years back. Instead we saw a focussed lad who was fighting it out against the fiercest pace battery in the world. Its been so throughout this world cup.
Having said that, lets cut to a year back. Yuvi was the toast of the Indian team after his exploits in the 2007 World T20 in South Africa. He had bludgeoned England at home with his 138*. Australia were taking a hiding. So were Srilanka and New Zealand. He was living a dream. But fate has this cruel knack of turning the lights off just when you see the door to immortality.
Yuvraj's form dipped alarmingly. It was as if all his talent was sucked out. The neat drives looked like lazy jabs. The pulls were merely a way of fending off the ball. His fitness gave way to a pot-belly. He was not the same young kid who slurped on kangaroo kurry in Nairobi. He was now a lost child wandering away in the wilderness looking for something.
He never seemed to know what he was looking for. He would appear confused at press meets. Look dazed at the same parties where girls would flock towards him in his good days. At the same time Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli were making in-roads into the National team.
He tried, he swished, he slogged....too late. Dropped from the test side. Fate sealed after Raina hit a century on debut.
All this while Dhoni and Kirsten put their money on Yuvi to fire again. They would call Yuvraj to their room and play the 19th over of the India Vs England T20 match at the 2007 world cup. If that dint work, the Semi-Final match between India and Australia would be played.
The whole country prayed for their most flamboyant batsman to get back to his old self. Though he did eventually start scoring the 40's and the odd 50's, there was no conviction in any of them. He was losing his own self-belief.
The road to the world cup was bumpy for the Indian Team. They had lost an intense ODI series in South Africa after hammering New Zealand at home. None of these matches had Yuvraj playing a significant role. His bowling was looking steady though.
Yuvraj managed to get one little finger over the line when the 15 man squad for the world cup was announced. He made sure he got his whole hand in and HOW!!
Yuvraj has been his sensational best in this world cup. Hes taken his "finisher" tag back. He "chucked" his loopy "pies" (read : Kevin Pieterson). Threw himself around the field. Helped himself to 4 man-of-match awards in the process.
All due respect to Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan, but its been Yuvraj who has been giving this bunch of 20 nothings the belief to do it for India this time.
So Much so that hes actually covered a few GAPING holes in the performances that the team has put up till now. If India needs to win the world cup, they need to rally around this man and ake sure hes all charged up. If India does win it, Yuvraj would have smashed open the door i was talking about earlier. WElcome back Yuvi...we missed you...Its nice to have u back ol' Prince!!
And THATS why it pays to be in the captain's good books. Appam...are you listening?
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