I am playing this tournament for a special person

I am playing this tournament for a special person

Nagraj Gollapudi at Motera

March 24, 2011

For the first time in my life there have been claps in a press conference. I am sure this is a special moment for me, guys." Yuvraj Singh made a telling opening statement. The whole media room was in splits. For the next 17 minutes Yuvraj played the role of entertainer effortlessly, his answers laced with wit and charm.

It was difficult to imagine the man sitting there as the same one who had fought doubts, conditions and the formidable Australian fast bowlers and stood tall and strong for one-and-a-half hours to eventually take India into the semi-finals. Still, it was not entirely a surprise; Yuvraj has now been named man of the match in four of India's seven matches so far this World Cup, so he must be getting used to it.

"I've been batting really well since the England game," Yuvraj said. "The plans are working for me: trying to work till the end, trying to hit the ball down the ground into the gaps. I just kept telling myself to bat till the end, stay till the end."

With 12.3 overs left, 74 runs required and just one specialist batsman in Suresh Raina for support, Yuvraj was left to hold the Indian innings together and take it past the finish line. The Aussies were steadily closing in, having picked up the wickets of Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni in quick succession.

Yuvraj had come up with an all-round performance in India's 80-run victory against West Indies last Sunday. His 113 in that match was his first century since June 2009. It was a knock of determination, as he fought hard to stay on his feet in the Chennai heat while suffering from dehydration; he even threw up a few times while batting. Later in the evening he returned to pick up two wickets to expedite the Indian victory.

Even in the earlier matches in the tournament, he had restrained his attacking instincts admirably to stay put, and brave India through tense moments in victories against Ireland and Netherlands after the main batsmen had lost their way easily. Coming into the quarter-finals, Yuvraj had run the whole gamut of experiences, which only helped him survive the high-pressure situation at Motera, which he said had drained the players both mentally and physically.

On Thursday, he turned up match-fit and was one of India's best bowlers with two top-order wickets and followed it with an unbeaten 57, an innings he described as one he had built in his dreams exactly a year ago. "The emotions, I really can't explain them, because it was tough out there. From last year I have been dreaming of playing Australia in a crucial game. I don't know why Australia; probably because they are three times world champions. I'd been thinking about this moment for the last 365 days and it actually came true. I just believed in myself, I envisioned that moment from time to time: me staying there till the end and hitting the winning runs for India. So it is a very emotional moment for me."

There were a few jitters, especially the child-like indecisiveness between him and Gambhir while going for tight singles. Gambhir fell victim to one such moment of confusion and was run out. Yuvraj accepted his role in the mix-up. "It was a bit of a mishap with Gautam. We haven't batted too much together and the running between the wickets was just out of order. And I think it was my mistake and I apologise."

It was not an isolated incident, as there was immense pressure on both teams. Experienced hands like Brett Lee failed to come through when Yuvraj and Raina began turning the screw on the Australians, at the start of the final eleven overs of the match. Lee had taken the wicket of Dhoni in his previous over, but in the 40th, the pair took him to the cleaners, with Yuvraj hitting two scorching boundaries.

In the next over, Shaun Tait was wayward and gave away 13 runs. Those two overs proved to be one of the catalysts of India's win, but Yuvraj said it was not a planned counterattack. "It was very difficult to control the emotions because the heartbeat was racing in the pressure situation. If we made one mistake in a situation like today we would be out of the World Cup. Various thoughts run through your mind, but I decided that I would only watch the ball, keep it simple and as far as possible not hit in the air. Unless the asking rate peaked to seven-and-a-half, only then I would go for the big hits; till then I would hold back."

Yuvraj revealed that there was a driving force behind his recent success, a person he will unveil if India make the final on April 2. "I am playing this tournament for a special person. That special person always comes into my mind whenever I am in a pressure situation. Hopefully it will work out in the end."

Not only was he a bit secretive, he even turned philosophical about his good work against Australia. "You have a lot of thoughts [in the mind while batting] but whenever you want to desperately do it for your country and your team it somehow works out. It is great it is working at the right moment in the World Cup. It is a great victory for us."

Yuvraj had planned for every eventuality. On the eve of the match, he was the last batsman to face throwdowns from coach Gary Kirsten. Yuvraj knew the Australians would fire a lot of short-pitched stuff at him to unsettle him. "I just wanted to concentrate on hitting everything down the ground while leaving out the short balls."

That planning came to fruition on Thursday. He checked his shots and emotions till the victory stroke was unleashed. Once the job was done, he came crashing and sliding down on his knees, the way football players rush to the flag after scoring a goal. Then he let out a victory roar. A little later, he trotted out the jokes.

Nagraj Gollapudi is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

Media frenzy over Yuvraj Singh special someone at World Cup

Media frenzy over Yuvraj's 'special someone' at World Cup

India's swashbuckling all-rounder Yuvraj Singh whipped up a media frenzy on Friday by refusing to identify the 'special person' who is the driving force behind his World Cup success.

The left-hander, 29, conjured up a magical performance in the quarter-final win against Australia on Thursday, grabbing two wickets and making an unbeaten 57 to shape India's five-wicket victory over the champions.

The victory sets up a semi-final with arch-rivals Pakistan in Mohali on March 30.

Yuvraj, named man of the match for the fourth time in the tournament, then revealed during the post-match press conference that there was someone special in his life behind his recent success.

"I am playing this tournament for a special person. That special person always comes into my mind whenever I am in a pressure situation."

Yuvraj promised to reveal the identity if India made it to the April 2 final in Mumbai.

"Hopefully it will work out in the end," he quipped.

Yuvraj's half-disclosure was lapped up by hungry Indian news channels, one of which promptly started a programme urging viewers to send in their opinion on who they thought was the mysterious person in the cricketer's life.

The Punjab player, who has 341 runs and 11 wickets in the tournament so far, joked it was the first time he had been applauded at a press conference.

After recent struggles with form and fitness, he was asked if everything he was touching was now turning to gold.

"I think so. Last year, whatever I was doing was turning into mud," he said. Yuvraj admitted his success against the defending champions was the stuff of dreams.

"I have been thinking about beating Australia in this World Cup for a year, that I would be there till the end and winning the game for India.

"I honestly thought about this 365 days of the year. I have been dreaming of this. Probably because Australia are three-time (successive) champions," explained Yuvraj.

Yuvraj's fourth 50 in six innings, also including a hundred, took his average at this World Cup to an astonishing 113.66.

It also represented a remarkable turnaround after he'd not that long ago found himself out of the side.

"This is a moment we live for," added Yuvraj who said the match against Pakistan would be another 'dream game' for India.

However, asked about the tactics for that match, he joked: "I'm sure whatever plans we have for Pakistan, MS (Dhoni) will tell you at the next press conference.

"We are just doing the best we can."

News .deccanchronicle

Yuvraj Singh stars as India finish second

Yuvraj Singh stars as India finish second

India 268 (Yuvraj 113, Kohli 59, Rampaul 5-51) beat West Indies 188 (Smith 81, Sarwan 39, Zaheer 3-26) by 80 runs

Oh West Indies, they have done it again. For the second match in a row they had a chase all wrapped up but some desperate inspiration from Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh and some mindless cricket from the batsmen who followed Devon Smith ensured that West Indies remained without a win over a Test side other than Bangladesh since June 2009. With Smith playing as well as he has ever played, West Indies almost mocked India for the first 27 overs, getting up to 146 for 2 without a care in the world. Then came a maiden by Harbhajan and a wicked Zaheer slower ball to remove Smith, and West Indies lost the last eight wickets for 34.

That collapse outdid India's own - 7 for 50 - that had threatened to undo Yuvraj Singh's century on a track whose bounce West Indies and Ravi Rampaul exploited, but not to the fullest. Rampaul, the hero of West Indies' last win against a major side, took his first five-for in ODIs on his World Cup debut to hurt the start, the middle and the end of the Indian innings. However, West Indies' insistence on opening the bowling with Sulieman Benn despite the helpful track, and the obvious plan of trying to bounce India out meant they couldn't capitalise on a first over that claimed Sachin Tendulkar. Then there was Yuvraj, with his maiden World Cup century, fighting dehydration, vomiting on the field, and then coming back to take two wickets.

The game might have ended in a whimper, but it began explosively. As they successfully did in the last two World Twenty20s, West Indies came out with bouncers for India. Inside the first 11 overs, two deliveries bounced over the keeper's head for byes, two batsmen got out to deliveries dug in short, one was dropped off another short delivery, but Benn went for 21 off his three overs to ease the pressure. To make matters worse Darren Sammy dropped Yuvraj twice, chances not easy but not impossible, at 9 and 13.

Working with Yuvraj was Virat Kohli, for whom it was almost a homecoming to bat at No. 3 in the absence of the injured Virender Sehwag. In familiar environs of not having to score at a strike-rate of 150, Kohli did just what was required on a tough pitch after a tough start, scoring 59 off 76, letting Yuvraj take the majority of the strike in a 122-run partnership, after the two had come together at 51 for 2.

Even after Yuvraj was reprieved twice, the bouncers still kept coming, the odd ball still misbehaved - especially for the left-hand batsman. He got dehydrated and threw up but nothing seemed to be able to stop the Yuvraj specials in between, shots that kept the scoring rate up in the middle overs. Kohli was smart too: he had played 21 deliveries when Yuvraj came to join him, but so good was the strike manipulation that Yuvraj had played 12 more deliveries than him by the time their partnership ended.

During the partnership, Yuvraj pulled over midwicket, cover-drove for fours along the ground, swept the legspin of Devendra Bishoo, and on-drove Sammy over long-on for a majestic six. It was one of those days when Yuvraj was feeling it, one of those days when he plays one level above the game around him. His mates, though, managed to engineer another collapse from 218 for 3 in the 42nd over.

Buoyed by that good finish with the ball, West Indies came out positive. As Rampaul stood up in the absence of the unwell Kemar Roach, so Smith did in place of the injured Chris Gayle. He cut furiously - almost every bowler got a taste of his trademark shot - he picked singles straight to infielders, doubles straight to those in the deep. However, R Ashwin, who got his World Cup debut at long last, was difficult to hit with the new ball. He used his carrom ball to remove the potentially explosive Kirk Edwards.

Still Smith and Darren Bravo first, and Smith and Ramnaresh Sarwan thereafter kept knocking off the runs calmly. The running between the wickets, and then the odd boundary to break a string of dots, remained a feature. The panic and rush that characterised their effort against England was conspicuous in its absence. With Smith scoring at will, and West Indies needing just 123 in the last 23 overs, only West Indies stood in the way of West Indies.

Turned out they needed a bit of help from India to kickstart the collapse. It came through a maiden from Harbhajan, who came back remarkably after an uninspiring spell of four overs for 23 with the new ball. Harbhajan and Munaf Patel put together a spell of 19 balls for just eight runs before Zaheer was called upon to provide the exclamation mark.

And how he did, with his new knuckle slower ball, where the middle finger doesn't hold the ball tightly, thus taking the pace off without giving any indication to those who are watching from the front. With that slower ball, he removed Smith's off stump after a virtually faultless innings. After that, the procession began. Kieron Pollard holed out to long-on at the first sight of pressure, Sammy was sold down the river by Sarwan, Devon Thomas and Andre Russell fell to the wiles of Yuvraj, and it was all over.

The way West Indies and India collapsed, conspiracy theorists will waste no time in suggesting that both teams wanted to avoid Australia in the quarter-final. As it turned out, West Indies finished fourth in Group B, thus getting Group A leaders Pakistan in Dhaka. And India renew hostilities with Australia in Ahmedabad.

Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

Yuvraj Singh urges India to exploit Aussie weakness

Yuvraj urges India to exploit Aussie 'weakness'

India star Yuvraj Singh has told his team-mates to seize the moment and capitalise on Australia's vulnerability when the teams meet in Thursday's World Cup quarter-final.

Yuvraj scored a century and took two wickets with his left-arm spinners as India beat the West Indies by a convincing 80 runs on Sunday to set-up a last eight clash against champions Australia in Ahmedabad.

India will go into the match buoyed by victory, Australia -- aiming for a fourth successive World Cup title and fifth in all -- suffered a four-wicket loss to Pakistan last time out where they were bowled out for just 176.

Defeat ended Australia's 34-match unbeaten streak at the World Cup dating back to 1999 and it was their batting, particularly the poor form of captain Ricky Ponting, that encouraged Yuvraj.

Ponting fell for 19 and in five innings at this World Cup has managed just 102 runs in all with a best of 36.

Not that Yuvraj, who hadn't turned two when India won their lone World Cup title back in 1983, was writing off Australia's chances completely.

"They've won four games at this World Cup. Teams are equal at the moment, it's just who plays better on the day," said Yuvraj, whose 113 was the centrepiece of India's 268 all out against the West Indies.

"Australia are a top side, they've won three successive World Cups but Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden are not there.

"You can get into the middle-order and Ponting is not in great form. If we can get into their weaknesses, we can win the quarter-final."

Injuries and loss of form have blighted Yuvraj's career in recent times.

But runs -- he'd also scored three fifties -- and wickets have come his way at the World Cup where he has been named man-of-the-match in three of India's four wins to date.

Sunday's innings was especially pleasing for Yuvraj as it marked his first ODI hundred in nearly two years since he made 131 against the West Indies in Kingston in June, 2009.

"Batting at number four, you get an opportunity you don't get at five," explained Yuvraj, who battled stomach cramps that led to vomiting during the course of his innings.

"I wanted to hit ball down the ground and not in the air."

India can expect to be roared on by a partisan crowd in Ahmedabad but Yuvraj, while grateful for the support, said motivation was primarily a personal issue.

"You are playing a World Cup quarter-final for your country -- you have to give 100 percent. It's the moment of our lives, the moment you live for as a cricketer."

India vs West Indies World Cup 2011 42nd match Group B

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 - India vs West Indies, World Cup 2011, 42nd match Group B - Preview

With team's much-vaunted batting coming under flake following the dramatic collapse against the Proteas in the last game, redemption will be at the top of priority for India when they take on West Indies in the last group match of the world cup in Chennai on Sunday.

India's bowling was never billed as hot and with batting too coming under scrutiny, Dhoni and company would like to bring everything back on track before moving into the knockout stage.

The defeat of Bangladesh at the hands of South Africa means that India is already assured of quarterfinal place and therefore the team can afford to experiment and work out the right combinations for matches to come.

West Indies are also almost assured of their place in the knockout stage except of course a catastrophic unprecedented defeat. Though the team has shown improvements in this world cup, it still needs to prove itself against top nations. 

India

For all the hype and hoopla that surrounded men in blue's world cup build up, they have not been able to live up to the expectation. While bowling continues to be team's weak link, the fact that batting, too, collapsed on more than one occasion, has clearly added to the woes of team management.

Of late, skipper Dhoni has also come under the radar of media and fans with his decision to persist with Chawla and not giving Ashwin a look-in receiving widespread criticism.

The pitch of Chennai has been a spinner's paradise. And with Swann and Tredwell scripting an English win over the West Indies a few days ago, India may play Ashwin to accompany Harbhajan and Yuvraj in spin department.

Bowling at death has also been a concern for India and this will be the last opportunity for Dhoni to work out the right candidate to do that job.

However, on the brighter side, India's first three batsmen have been in imperious form throughout the world cup with Sehwag, Sachin and Gambhir all among runs.

Tendulkar has scored two centuries in this world cup and with his tally of international tons reading 99, Indian fans would hope for the master batsmen to bring up his 100th ton on a ground he has always loved playing on.

Squad

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt./wk), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin, Ashish Nehra.

Coach: Gary Kirsten

West Indies

West Indies would look to avoid the kind of collapse they had against England in the last game. Batting collapse has now almost become a pattern for the Caribbean team as the side twice let the game off their control when playing top teams in the world cup.

The team is full of stroke players with Gayle, Bravo and Pollard all capable of tearing apart any team single handedly. However, the lack of patience and ability to mix caution with aggression among the batsmen have proved the team's undoing on too many occasions.

In the bowling department, West Indies will be led by their charismatic new ball bowler Kemar Roach who has been in sterling from in this world cup. Andre Russell was also impressive in the last game and with young Bishoo impressing one and all with his spinning prowess against England; West Indies appear a bit ahead as far variety in bowling is concerned.

Squad

Andre Russell, Chris Gayle Darren Bravo Darren Sammy (c) Devendra Bishoo Devon Smith Devon Thomas (wk), Kemar Roach Kieran Pollard Kirk Edwards Nikita Miller Ramnaresh Sarwan Ravi Rampaul S Chanderpaul Suleiman Benn

Coach: Ottis Gibson

--
Mahi