An Interview

Even as Team India searches for the elusive batting form ahead of the Test series against South Africa, one of the key members of the side over the last couple of years is at home. A cruel twist of fate has seen Yuvraj Singh miss out on the chance to play in the Test series and may even force him to miss the World Cup. However, Yuvraj is hopeful of getting back in to Team India before the World Cup in the West Indies but he doesn't want to rush things. In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN’s Chief Cricket Correspondent Nishant Arora, Yuvraj asked the Indian cricket fans to support Team India.

Nishant Arora: We are at the Vijay Dahiya Cricket Academy and have a very special guest with us - Yuvraj Singh, who is here to see his Ranji team Punjab play Bengal in the Under-22 quarter-finals. He’s here to motivate the Punjab Under-22 team. After his injury, Yuvraj is speaking for the first time to the media. Yuvraj, first of all, thanks for joining CNN-IBN. How is your injury right now?

Yuvraj Singh: Getting better at the moment. Just doing my rehab. So, I’m planning to build up and recuperate slowly. Lets see how quickly I recover.

Nishant Arora: At what stage is your injury in right now? On the path to recovery, where do you stand at this moment?

Yuvraj Singh: At the moment, it’s the first stage of my rehab. I had a month off, I was doing very little exercises. I’m going to build up on it now. Hopefully, I would be making some good progress. I have had my programme made from John Gloster and Dr Anant Joshi. So, hopefully I’m going to work on it and push really hard, and hopefully in the next two months I start playing again.

Nishant Arora: Dr Anant Joshi has visited you and seen your condition. Does he think that you need a surgery?

Yuvraj Singh: Initially they were talking about surgery but it was the third time he saw my knee and he’s very happy with the progress. It’s quite stable, he says. And I’m sure with solid rehab, I can maintain it. So, at the moment the question of surgery is out. I just need to work hard on it, lose more weight from my body so that I can recover faster.

Nishant Arora: What kind of rehab is it, and what kind of precautions are you taking, especially during an injury like this? It is a very common injury in athletes, not in cricket, but in athletics it’s a very common injury. Any other sports, be it rugby, or badminton.

Yuvraj Singh: I’ve heard a lot about the way the ligaments tear, but a lot of people undergo surgery with the knee still unstable, but a lot of players like Dhanraj Pillay and P T Usha, they haven’t undergone surgery. That’s what I’ve heard. And they are still playing professional sport. So, I’m sure I can get away with this as well, and just a proper rehabilitation and discipline for two-three months, I’m sure I’ll be back.

Nishant Arora: When your knee was twisted, what was your first thought?

Yuvraj Singh: The first thought was that I knew it was really bad. And I knew 'I am going to miss the game tomorrow'. That was pretty disappointing and right now the disappointment is of not playing in South Africa. Firstly, in the four years of my Test career, I have hardly got a chance play in Tests, and when I just became a regular member of the team, now I’m out again. So, I have to prove my fitness, my form and come back again. But injuries are part of sport. All sportsmen go through it. It’s tough, but I have to go through it.

Nishant Arora: We all know that the World Cup is a big tournament for any cricketer. It comes once in four years. But when Yuvraj Singh sees his future, does he keeps this entire thing in perspective, there is the one short-term goal which is the World Cup and the long-term goal is having a very good, injury-free career. What would you pick?

Yuvraj Singh: See, first of all, a career can never be injury-free for any sportsperson, be it any sport. Right now, the World Cup is very important for any player who’s playing international cricket. But you also have to see that you are 100 per cent fit, you need to strike form as soon as you come back. We have tours of Australia and England coming up as well, which are very important too. There is a lot of Test and One-Day cricket to be played. I want to play the World Cup, and I’m going to do my best to get back before the World Cup or at the World Cup. But I need to see that I’m 100 per cent fit. I can be fit before the World Cup or even after it. But I have to know that I can dive around the field, I can push myself to any level, spin and twist between the wickets. Only after doing all that, all those tests will I be able to take a call.

Nishant Arora: Yuvraj, is it also very important to you to prove yourself as a Test cricketer? We know that you are a very good One-Day cricketer and you have proved it time and again. You have played one World Cup, and have been a part of a successful team that made it to the final of the 2003 World Cup, and you made major contributions over there. So do you think the nest major thing for you is to do well at the Test level?

Yuvraj Singh: Of course it is. As a young cricketer when you are playing at the Under-16 and Under-19 levels, you play mostly three-day or four-day games. You see the greatest of the players being regarded predominantly by their Test records. You hardly see a player regarded as a great played considering only the One-Day version of the game. Because then people say 'he is a great One-Day player but not a good Test player'. So for a player Test cricket is very important, and I’m going to excel in Test cricket. It’s been a little up and down for me in the Tests, so I’ll just be trying to get more consistent in it and work harder.

Nishant Arora: You must be watching India playing in South Africa. It’s been disappointing to say the least.

Yuvraj Singh: It is disappointing when you lose, when your teammates are losing. I don’t like sitting on the couch and watch them lose. It’s hard to take it. But I’m sure they are going to comeback soon. Right now the only thing is that we can support them. I understand there’s a lot of criticism. We take the criticism, but what India needs right now are the wishes of the people. I know people are really disappointed, and as a player even I would be disappointed. But what we can do right now is wish our team good luck and support them in the hard times.

Nishant Arora: While you were watching the matches, at times it’s easy to understand the cause of defeat when you are not part of the action. Could you make some sense out of what could be missing? We were winning; we won a series against Pakistan in Pakistan, which is a huge challenge. We beat Sri Lanka and England back-to-back in India, both of whom are strong One-Day sides. We levelled the series against South Africa too. So what were we doing right then and where are we going wrong right now?

Yuvraj Singh: Right now the only difference I can see is that the batsmen are not in good form. It’s very important that the main batters of the team perform so that we get a win. Most of the batsmen are not in very good nick, and our batting has struggled. We haven’t got too many runs on the board, we haven’t chased well. So, the only difference I see is the batting. Bowlers did a great job in the second One-Dayer and in the third game also. So, the bowlers have been doing well. I just think that when the batting clicks, it’s going to be a different ball game. That is the only difference I see.

Nishant Arora: Watching the matches on TV, how frustrating is it? Do you feel like jumping in and help your mates?

Yuvraj Singh: You do think as a player that you should jump in, but I just take out my frustration while the match is going on, I bang my bat on the floor. It’s very easy to sit outside and comment, 'This should have been done and this should have happened'. But it’s very different when you go into the field. So it is frustrating, it is a different feeling. But it’s after so many years that I am sitting at home and watching my team play. It’s a bag of mixed feelings. But I need to think about my injury and get back as soon as possible.

Nishant Arora: Injuries teach you a lot. You are alone; you don’t have the stardom surrounding you. You are completely out of that world in which you are often the star while you are in the team. So, what has this injury taught you?

Yuvraj Singh: Since my back injury 10 years ago, this has been the next serious injury to have happened. I know it’s going to take a lot of time. It’s different when you are not in the team, but the thing is that my body is resting, I am at a lot of mental peace, I have time to think about my game and I have time to think about my injury and how I’m going to work on it, and how I’m going to get back. So, maybe it’s a blessing in disguise, you never know. But the sad part is that I’m missing a lot of cricket, from where I would have learnt a lot of things, like South Africa was a tough tour and the more tough tours you have, the better you get as a player.

Nishant Arora: You could have made a difference, because the wickets in South Africa are ideal for your kind of a batsman.

Yuvraj Singh: Yes, when you represent your country, you would want to make a difference. The bounce somewhat suits me, but on the day anyone can get out, and even if you score and the team doesn’t win, there’s no point. You only feel happy when you score and the team wins. So anything could have happened.

Nishant Arora: Were you missing being the part of the action, missing Yuvraj Singh as a batsman in the middle?

Yuvraj Singh: Of course I was missing Yuvraj as a batsman because I knew that the bounce is very good for batting, especially for my batting. But we have very good players in the team. It’s just that the batting is not clicking. Anything could have happened when I was batting as well. I’m sure I would have made my contributions in the field while bowling and fielding. Right now I want to support the team, I want to support the young boys in the team, because they have been going through a lot. I have been through all that when I was young - players like Irfan Pathan and Suresh Raina are going through it. So, right now we just need to support them.

Nishant Arora: What kind of a watcher are you? Are you one of the silent watchers, preferring to just quietly sit down and watch matches on TV? Because you watching matches is already quite rare. Do you buy popcorn and soft drinks and sit quietly and watch a match?

Yuvraj Singh: I only eat popcorn when I watch a movie in the theatre. I am just eating my breakfast or doing my thing when I watch the game. When I am watching the games, I see all the 50 overs while India bats as well as bowls.

Nishant Arora: Do you pick up your bat while watching?

Yuvraj Singh: I do. I pick up my bat and start banging it on the floor. That’s how I take my frustration out. But you can’t do much about it. You can only watch the game, enjoy as a viewer and wish India good luck.

Nishant Arora: Could you make any sense of the criticism that rose in Parliament? Everyone seems to be criticising the Indian team. You have been reading the criticisms day in and day out, while they may not be in South Africa. You have been watching it on TV.

Yuvraj Singh: Indians are very passionate about cricket. Everyone loves the game so dearly that if we lose, they get really personal about it. That’s okay. But criticism should be limited. I know when India loses the whole of the nation goes berserk, because of the love of the game. So, I think the people should control it and the feelings should be controlled. I understand there is criticism. But right now, as a player and as a viewer, I would say it’s more important that our team needs the whole nation’s support. They need their fans’ support, and I request all the viewers to support the players as it is the most important thing they need.

Nishant Arora: This question will be asked to you time and again. How close do you find yourself to get the boarding pass, when the Indian team would fly to the West Indies to play the World Cup?

Yuvraj Singh: Yes, it’s going to be touch and go. My aim is to get fit before the World Cup, play one or two series, so that I am in a position to assess my fitness, and see how I can progress at the World Cup. It’s too early to take a call. But with people’s best wishes, so many people want me to get well, even senior cricketers are wishing me well. So, I hope with everyone’s wishes I am going to make a comeback soon.

Nishant Arora: What kind of deadline have you set for yourself that 'by this time I will be aware whether I will be playing at the World Cup or not'?

Yuvraj Singh: I think the last week of January. That’s the time by when I should know that I can play the series in February. If I play that series I can know how well I have progresses. So playing the series in February is my target at the moment ahead of the World Cup. But that can be sooner than I think. So, that’s going to be my target. So, lets see if I can make it to that time.

Nishant Arora: You are very hopeful?

Yuvraj Singh: I am hopeful and before the series, if I could play some domestic games. It depends on my fitness, depends on how strong my knee is. So I am going to work on making my knee very strong for now.

Nishant Arora: You are not going to rush into it?

Yuvraj Singh: I am not going to rush into it. If I am not 100 per cent fit, I am not going to play.

Nishant Arora: Yuvraj, the entire India wants you back in the team, we all wish you good luck. Lets hope that blessings and proper medication work for you, and you are fit and back in the team.

Yuvraj Singh:Thank you very much.