Published: Mar 26, 2011, 10:49 AM (IST)
Edited: Mar 18, 2014, 02:49 PM (IST)
By David Green
The year 2010 was an unadulterated disaster for Yuvraj Singh. Injury, loss of form and gluttony led him to losing his place in the Indian Test side, a disastrous season with Kings XI Punjab and questions as to his place in the Indian World Cup squad.
Indeed, 2010 wasn’t just a bad year for Yuvraj; it was an annus horribilis.
Yuvraj’s troubles didn’t go unnoticed at The Reverse Sweep and we wrote a post accusing him of being over-rated, arrogant and with an ego the size of Jupiter.Whilst we stand by with most of what we wrote – especially where Test cricket is concerned – let’s give credit where credit is due: Yuvraj has been absolutely outstanding in this World Cup.
It’s difficult to imagine a more pressured situation than the one that confronted Yuvraj in the World Cup quarter-final against Australia. When Mahendra Singh Dhoni fell, India still required 74 runs off 75 balls, with just five wickets left. With the last recognised batsman, Suresh Raina, arrived at the crease, the onus was on Yuvraj to lead India home. Defeat would have led to the usual recriminations and burning effigies.
But Yuvraj took it all in his stride. He cajoled Raina to produce the goods, led from the front and used his arrogant demeanour to stunning effect.
As it stands, Yuvraj is arguably the player of the tournament of the World Cup thus far. He is the fourth highest run scorer with 341 runs at 113.66 with one hundred and four fifties from his six innings. And with the ball, he has been India’s outstanding bowler after Zaheer Khan with 11 wickets at 25 at an economy rate of just under five runs per over.
No one would have predicted that Yuvraj would be in the running for the player of the tournament, not even his biggest supporter – namely himself.
(David Green is the brain behind the irreverent The Reverse Sweep blog and also writes for a number of cricket publications and sites such as World Cricket Watch. You can follow him on Twitter also @TheReverseSweep. David was a decent schoolboy and club cricketer (and scored his maiden 100 the same week that Sachin Tendulkar scored his first Test ton) but not good enough to fulfil his childhood dream of emulating Douglas Jardine by winning the Ashes in Australia and annoying the locals into the bargain. He now lives with his wife and two young children in the South of France and will one day write the definitive biography of Hedley Verity)
