The last time Yuvraj Singh came to Chandigarh as part of the Indian team, he tore cruciate ligaments in his left knee during a game of kho-kho at a warm-up session at the PCA stadium in Mohali. That injury, sustained a day before the Champions Trophy tie against Australia in late October, kept him out of international cricket for more than three months.

Following his return, Yuvraj gradually built up steam before exploding in a frenzy at the Twenty20 World Cup. His wondrous century against Australia in Hyderabad on Friday was further confirmation that the 25-year-old is batting better now than ever before.

His homecoming on Saturday afternoon wasn’t as joyous as it would have been if India had won, but his eighth one-day hundred must have gone a long way towards erasing memories of that bitter late-October morning of last year.

The hometown boy -- it was at the Sector 16 stadium, the venue of Monday’s fourth one-dayer, that Yuvraj played his early cricket -- will not feel the pressure of expectations because he is made of sterner stuff. He has now touched such exalted levels that skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has publicly stated that the rest of the batsmen must bat around him and support him, given his ‘amazing form.’ That is high praise, considering Dhoni is leading a trio of former captains, with each of Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar an accomplished, acknowledged achiever.

Angry young man
There is, quite obviously, something that has been troubling Yuvraj for a while now. He is Indian cricket’s equivalent of the angry young man, but to his great credit, he has channelised his restlessness and let it fuel his batting. A carefree spirit to start with, Yuvraj has shown in recent times that he is at supreme ease in embracing responsibility and draping it around him like a comfortable cloak. 

The same Yuvraj who burst into wild celebration and let loose expletives on completing a century in Dambulla some two and a half years ago was a picture of poise and composure upon bringing up three figures in Hyderabad on Friday. There was no more than a gentle wave of the bat in acknowledgement of the cheers of his team-mates and an adoring crowd. A personal milestone had been brought up, but the greater goal -- the team’s victory -- remained to be accomplished. 

Disconsolate
Yuvraj was disconsolate when he fell in trying to force the pace, going down on his haunches and and looking downcast in the awareness that with his fall, the last Indian hope had been snuffed out. Australia are not generally given to overt shows of appreciation. Long before Ponting hailed Yuvraj’s stunning hundred at the press conference, most of the Australian team expressed their appreciation and acknowledgement of an exceptional essay with a firm shake of the hand and a commiserative pat on the back.

In recent times, Yuvraj has shown that he knows how to make a good thing count. Having emerged the batting lynchpin in a glittering line-up, he wlll necessarily have to show the way, not just in the city of his birth but also for the rest of the series.