The Test of My Life: Yuvraj Singh – Book review

The atmosphere was tense out there on cricket field, and the intensity was felt by all of us watching the match live on television, with the veteran Indian batsmen back, and a novel middle order to cope with against the mighty Australian bowling attack comprising of McGrath, Lee and Gillespie. The day was 7^th October 2000 when Yuvraj Singh, the flamboyant left hander took guard on the pitch for the very first time in an International match that too in one of the most prestigious tournament then, known as the ‘ICC KnockOut trophy’ played in the Kenyan capital city, Nairobi.

Once Yuvraj began to find gaps in the tight Aussie fielding and on occasions found the boundary rope with authority, the smiles began to return on the faces of spectators who till than had pale and sore looks. The batting technique that he possessed would have made him succumb to one of the seamers, yet he fought his way to a match winning 84 and announced himself on the world stage in an innings consisting of classy cover drive, meaty on-drive, a pull and a hook of McGrath that we still savour upon. A crucial air-borne catch later in the day sealed India’s victory as we danced our way out of the apartment on that magnificent day.

Since that day, years have passed and Yuvraj has climbed the difficult mountain in acquiring the heights in International cricket that most dream of, while very few achieve. He’s been part of the team that has won the T20 world cup, have grabbed the first spot in Test ranking and recently have won the 50 overs world cup in which he has claimed the prestigious ‘man of the tournament’ award. He has become a celebrity in India who has been a reason behind the smiles of billion people. His survivor story after being diagnosed with cancer is what his book ‘The Test of my Life’ is all about.

The book begins, as expected, with the story of Yuvraj’s childhood and how he got hitched to playing Cricket. The same has been witnessed by most in documentaries that run on news channel quite often. The beginning of this book is dull and one might be tempted to skip it all-together. Add to it the weak phrases and unstructured sentences which might be the reason behind the bad performance of this book into the market.

But, once you carry on and reach the part where Yuvraj is confirmed to have Cancer, the reading picks up momentum and from there it’s a matter of an overnight that one may relish this book in. In this part of the book, the co-author Sharda Ugra, seems to have taken over much of the workload as the book has a sudden change in tone while the sentences which in earlier part were clumsy, has a swift change in it. The descriptions are clearer and the command over language holds a better grip.

Nevertheless, the book is a must read if you form an Indian audience and are unaware about the hardships a sportsperson undergoes during his playing career. Also, because the wide-spread misconceptions about Cancer are described in a manner that the be-holder of this dreadful disease may get an inspiration to fight and come out victorious.

To summarise, the book shall garnish your bookshelf and make you a proud owner of one as it surely will catch an eye of your guest who invariably pass an eye over the corner where the books seats tall. 

Earlier post on Yuvraj Singh's return:

http://waywardfocus.blogspot.in/2012/09/human-spirit-heavenly-gesture.html

Dhoni’s forte; India’s loss

The climax on the night of 7^th September (evening at Edgbaston, England) was set to favour India in the only T20 International match of the tour with the ultimate finisher of the shorter version, MS Dhoni – Captain, Indian Cricket team, at crease – with his usual ease. Historic figures had made us believe that Dhoni thrives in such hopeless looking situations for others. The scorecard at the start of the final over read: 17 of 6 balls. On most occasions the punters would put money on fielding side, but for Dhoni with strike and a relatively new bowler, the possible result stood at 50-50 chance to each team. The first ball sixer, that too with a Dhoni swagger, shifted the winning pendulum in India’s favour.

But for Cricket’s sake and for the great leveller this game can be at times, Dhoni miscalculated the scoring rate and perhaps the denial of strike to Rayadu played on his game, when he failed to connect at least one of the last two deliveries that were bowled in his arc to execute the famous helicopter shot. India’s loss surfaced the important aspect of Cricket being a team sport and that no individual can ever claim to have mastered it once for all.

Had it been the case where Rayadu would have denied strike to Dhoni, he would have lost the Indian cap immediately for sure and perhaps been blacklisted for his entire life. But such is the aura of Dhoni that non on the expert’s discussed about it, and perhaps added salt to Rayadu’s wounds by sympathising and labelling him “Poor Rayadu”.