Yuvraj Singh played an instrumental role in India’s 2011 World Cup triumph.
Months after the World Cup win, the news of Yuvraj’s cancer came to the fore and the southpaw underwent rigorous treatment for the disease before eventually staging his comeback to the national side in September 2012.
More than a decade later, Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar has now opened up on Yuvraj’s illness, revealing that the latter’s energy levels were “dropping” ahead of the 2011 World Cup.
“I found Yuvi's energy was really low. At that time, nobody knew that he had that illness. One only realised that after the 2011 World Cup. Before that, I felt his energy levels were low, so I called him to my room on the even of our first match. I said, ‘Yuvi, chalo ham dinner karte hain’,” Tendulkar said during an event organized by Infosys.
“We started chatting and just before leaving my room, I told him, 'From tomorrow, I'm going to send goals for you and they start from your fielding. You were a really athletic fielder and I find your energy levels have dropped a bit. From tomorrow, our practice sessions will be different. I expect you to push little harder. If you want, we will work together and I will give my honest feedback. I can guarantee you that your graph will slowly but surely go upwards, and at the crunch moment, you will matter when it matters, Yuvi. Keep working hard, that process is important. Peaking at the right time is important',” he added.
As it turned out, Sachin Tendulkar's pep-talk and his work with Yuvraj Singh did wonders for the all-rounder as he earned the Player-of-the-Tournament award.
“That was exactly what Yuvi did. He peaked at the right time. He ended up becoming the man of the tournament, and brought smile to a billion of faces,” said Tendulkar.