JOIN USDaniel Vettori tossed the ball up, hoping Yuvraj Singh would go over the top and make a mistake. Yuvraj, however, was in no mood to make mistakes at the MA Chidambaram stadium here on a balmy Tuesday.
The left-hander, who scored 34 off 26 balls with one four and two sixes, caressed the ball over the wide long-on fence in the 13th over to bring every spectator in the stadium to their feet.
It was a strike strewn with power and clothed in disdain. Yuvraj rolled back years with that one shot, and the hit was a testament to his grit, resilience and above all class.
Apart from walking on to the field and sending the crowd into frenzy after India chose to field, Yuvraj, who returned to international cricket after a gap of nearly one year due to cancer, made little impact.
The 31-year-old, who was stationed at point for most part, looked tired while chasing down balls, dragging himself around the ground. It was quite obvious that he could not go after some balls that he would have done earlier, but he made up for it with his tidy two-over spell. It was, however, his batting that really caught everyone’s fancy. Coming in after India lost Suresh Raina, Yuvraj had on his shoulders the expectations of an entire nation.
Nervously prodding at the first ball, Yuvraj tried to get himself off the strike but was sent back by Virat Kohli. He opened his account with a trademark flick for a single off Kyle Mills. Four balls later, he scored his first boundary, guiding a wide ball down to third-man boundary.
The Punjab batsman was dropped on seven after he mistimed a hook but all that was forgotten when he struck his first six. From there on, he laboured his way to 27 but he set the stage ablaze again with another six in the same direction. It looked like he was throwing his bat at everything in the end but that was the requirement of the situation.
For now, it’s safe to say that Yuvraj is back.