Yuvraj Singh hopeful of a comeback to Indian cricket team

Yuvraj Singh still regards Lance Armstrong as his hero

Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh, speaking to the reporters at the launch of the cancer detection month by ‘YouWeCan’ and Indian Cancer Society at Bangalore, believes that he could make a comeback to the Indian cricket team soon on the back of his consistent performances for India A against West Indies A in the recently-concluded unofficial bilateral series.

Yuvraj Singh’s short stint with the Indian side after his recovery from cancer did not go down well, and subsequently he was dropped by the selectors earlier this year citing poor form and fitness as the reasons.

The 31-year-old, who last represented India on 27th of January in an ODI match against England, said: “I had a fantastic tournament here (Bangalore). Hopefully it will change things for me.”

Yuvraj also revealed that the period of treatment after he was diagnosed with cancer was an extremely difficult one to take, both physically and mentally, but he was determined to see it through to save his life.

Yuvraj added: “Being diagnosed (with cancer) was quite a low. Having my friends and family members around was important. And my doctors helped me battle the disease.

“It took me a while to gather myself. Any survivor will tell you the same. I get a lot of mails from people who say they never wanted to go through all this treatment, but my book (The Test of My Life: From Cricket to Cancer and Back) prompted them to think differently. It was a depressing phase, but I couldn’t run away from it. You’ve got to fight for your life.

“There will be a lot of changes in your life. You come back to life, you appreciate life a lot more and you feel for others who are going through this disease more than ever. Right now, I feel extremely fit so I hope things change for me (on the cricket front).”

Yuvraj Singh admitted that he still regards Lance Armstrong, former American professional road racing cyclist who was stripped off all his titles for committing doping offenses, as his hero.

He concluded by saying, “One’s fight against cancer and one’s sporting career are two different things. What I admire about Lance is the courage and strength he showed to make a comeback. What he did in his sport, obviously a lot of people are not happy about but for me he is a hero because he won such a huge battle.”