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A fan’s open letter to Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh first returned to the Indian side. Then he turned the ODI against England on its head. And a fan responded.

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Yuvraj Singh © IANS
Yuvraj Singh © IANS

Dear Yuvi:

It has been a long wait, 5 years and 9 months to be precise, since the world saw you score an international hundred for the last time. Believe me, it has been a long and hard wait since then.

As a kid who had grown up watching your exploits in the field — whether standing at point or while batting — I can assure you that most born in the 1990s turned into your fans.

Your passion, your commitment in the field, your ability to win matches singlehandedly appealed to our generation like Kohli does to the 10-year-olds today.

And thus, the knock you played today brings me and many others from my generation a lot of personal joy.

We owned the knock just like we own you as our own.

You might be wondering what we were doing for all these years while you were out of the side due to either health or form issues!

We were crying with you when the entire media held you responsible for the defeat in the 2014 World T20 final. We started to follow your heroic performances in domestic cricket. We ran campaigns on social media with #BringBackYuvi when you were dropped from the 2015 World Cup despite having had a scintillating Ranji season.

We kept daydreaming about a sensational innings that you would play when you would come back.

We shouted with joy when you were selected for 2016 World T20. Agony struck us again when you got injured before the semi-final.

We kept daydreaming of a Yuvi special.

We were ridiculed.

We felt hurt every time a controversy was blown up regarding your apparent rift with Dhoni.

We had begun to accept silently that we might never see you again in Indian colours again.

Then an unexpected turn of events took place.

Rohit Sharma got injured. Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu started to fail. And you went berserk in Ranji trophy.

And finally, when we were keeping our fingers crossed, you were selected for the ODI and T20I teams.

You showed glimpses of good form in the practice match, but faltered in the 1st ODI. Once again the doubting Thomases came out of hiding and ridiculed us, pointing out that your inclusion was only going to take the India cricket backward.

They are silent today.

Or perhaps they have become your fans again.

The daydream has finally come true.

Our prince in shining armour has delivered, and how!

However, it is just a beginning.

We want you to continue playing in the same manner for a few more years.

Even the haters know that you are India’s lucky charm when it comes to winning major tournaments.

Yours faithfully,

A proud fan.

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