Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with cancer at the peak of my career: Yuvraj Singh

2011 was a dream year for Yuvraj Singh. India had won the 50-over World Cup after a long wait of 28 years thanks to the southpaw. He won the Man of the Tournament award for his all-round contribution in almost every match. Interestingly, a lot of questions were raised over Yuvraj’s selection in the World Cup squad and he turned out to be the match-winner for the country.

But his world came crashing down after the mega event as the left-hander was diagnosed with Cancer. He didn’t play much cricket either after the World Cup and the fans were also shocked after knowing about the sad news. However, for the fighter he is, Yuvraj defied all the odds and survived the deadly disease. But given the way his body got affected during the treatment, not many thought he would make a comeback.

Yuvraj Singh, while speaking to Kevin Pietersen in a Live Instagram session, lamented the fact that he was crippled with the disease at the wrong time of his career. “I think it is something that you cannot express in words, unfortunately, the moment came when I was in the peak of my career. We had won the 50-over World Cup, Sourav Ganguly had just retired, I was looking to play Test cricket, and then I got diagnosed with cancer.

“It was disappointing. But if you look at the good part, I was young, my family had a hard time in dealing with it but my mother was very supportive,” he said.

Lance Armstrong was Yuvraj Singh’s inspiration

Yuvraj Singh also revealed that the prominent road racing cyclist Lance Armstrong was his inspiration to make a comeback. He also recalled how almost everyone gave up on his return to the field. Yuvi regained fitness after surviving and played for India until 2017 but his place was never secured after his comeback.

“I came back, everyone said I won’t make a comeback, but I did. I was very inspired by Lance Armstrong, I am watching the Last Dance on Netflix now, I now think I could have retired for a year then and I could have made a comeback then, but I wanted to play Test cricket. I did not want to be a story of someone who just makes a comeback from cancer,” the 38-year-old added.