Yuvraj Singh hopes for change in fortunes

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A lot has changed for Yuvraj Singh in the months following his battle with cancer, least of all his undying passion for the game. He made a brief return to the Indian team last year and featured against the visiting England team in January; but he was dropped in favour of youngsters for Champions Trophy and the tri-series in the West Indies. It looked like his career had hit an air pocket but this time the situation was in his control.

Positive that he would find a window of opportunity, he put in the hard yards and trained in France under fitness expert Tim Exeter. It was a leaner, fitter Yuvraj who returned for India 'A' and scored an 89-ball 123 in the opening match against West Indies 'A' last week.

The captain followed it up with 40 and 61 in the remaining matches. While form and fitness are closer to the Yuvraj of old, there's a lot more maturity in his approach to making a comeback to the highest level. Statements of intent are suppressed and the bat has done all the talking. "Bangalore is one of my favourite cities. I love coming here. I had a fantastic tournament and hopefully it will change things for me," he said at an event organized by the Indian Cancer Society and the batsman's charity You WeCan on Friday.

"I'm not really here to talk about cricket, I'm here to talk about detection and testing for cancer. But if the comeback is supposed to happen it will happen," he said.

Yuvraj admitted his cancer battle had affected his game a lot. "It definitely affects your body. If your body is affected, your game is going to get affected. It's been quite a battle and it's been two years where I have let my body fight it to the best of its potential. It's taken a lot of time to heal, to breathe normally and to come back. Right now, touch wood, I am in the best of fitness so I hope things change," he said.


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Keywords:Yuvraj Singh, cancer, Champions Trophy,Indian Cancer Society, batsman's charity,cricket news,sports news