Yuvraj Singh: Two part Interview touches on form,past mistakes, and for advice to Young Cricketers

[ludhianvi]

Two part Yuvraj Singh's interview. Very interesting read. Yuvi hasnt given up :two_thumbs_up: His recent injuries in the last year or so just did not provide him with a consistent run in my opinion although he keeps mentioning he is not young anymore which is a bit worrying. And he does know what needs to be done . Come on Yuvi..come back with a bang!! Wishing all the best! -------------INTERVIEW BEGINS PART 1--------- 'I can't control my emotions all the time' Yuvraj Singh looks back at a troubled year, marked by injury, controversy and the loss of form Interview by Sharda Ugra September 21, 2010 Yuvraj Singh's career these days must feel like the middle overs of a high-scoring ODI - a long, often monotonous trudge that must be undergone to arrive on the other side with something substantial. This is his tenth year with India and it has brought him a string of superlatives, all far removed from super: roughest, toughest, hardest. Whether it is form or fitness, injury or illness, minor issues have turned into complications and complications have brought with them the most severe consequences. At a time when he believes his Test career should be taking off, Yuvraj has been dropped from a series squad for the second time in four months. First was the Asia Cup that followed a disappointing Caribbean World Twenty20. It is what happened during the Sri Lanka Test series, though, that stung him the deepest. Its aftermath can only be worse. He must now know that the first-choice Test No. 6 is Suresh Raina, who stepped in and scored a debut Test century ¬when fever ruled Yuvraj out in Sri Lanka. He calls the omission from the third Test, the "hardest part" of his annus horribilius. He is now out of the Test squad against Australia completely. It cannot have been easy but when the news reached him yesterday, his public persona kept him relaxed before the cameras. More than his image what Yuvraj will protect and fight for is his reputation as competitor and team man. It is why he will talk about what he needs to do in order to hack it in Test cricket. Or why he can't field at point. Or what it's like to be dropped. Or why he looks so angry all the time. Or anything. Ask him any question and he answers like he strikes a ball best - clean and clear, beyond boundaries of doubt or rumour. He speaks like a man with few secrets or agendas. "I am an open person. I don't do anything in hiding" he says. Yuvraj understands respect instinctively and is generous with it to his peers. After 10 years it is why he seeks it for himself now through his cricket. It is why being left out of the Test team is like being crushed by his own destiny. He won't explode in a fit of rage, though. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo last week, Yuvraj talked about watching his rookie years happen all over again to his young team-mates. "Boys mature very late", he grins. (So that explains everything. Do stop the press.) Consider him matured and not only because he's reading books on tour these days. One of the "most interesting" he says is Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps. He found some of it "very true - about men and women both", he laughs. He is intrigued by Shantaram, which he is still to finish, and his new hobby worries some mates. They remember the loose-limbed free spirit, and an anxious VVS Laxman once said, "Please don't read all these books - you just listen to hip-hop and keep dancing." If this were an easier time, perhaps he could have. Not anymore. His career comes with a sobering constant. He sets no epic goals and keeps his tomorrows simple. This time it's about getting fit and in form leading to the World Cup. As India play unconvincing ODI cricket, they will need Yuvraj because he is their man for the big moment. Without him, the Indian middle order is not so much brittle as hollow. In Test cricket, India's greatest ever middle order is heading towards a sunset that could well become a blackout. In a perfect world, maybe this sobering swashbuckler could steady them. "I still haven't given up" Yuvraj says. His team should not either. Injuries, getting dropped, not once but twice, the IPL drama - have the last 12 months been the most difficult in your career? Yes, it has been the toughest year in terms of managing my body and my performances. The last hundred I had was in the West Indies after the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup. That really bothers me. I've been injured a lot, which mentally is very hard. Broke my finger, two fractures at the same time, then broke my little finger, then I had a cartilage tear in my wrist, then a series of neck injuries in the last series. It's just sad because it has come at a time when batsmen really peak, at 28, 29, 30 you're supposed to hit your best form. Then I think, "It's a good thing this has not come at the end of my career when you're saying, 'Oh ****, man, I can't do this anymore.'" So it's been very tough but, touch wood, I've managed to be strong and I'm sure things are going to come good soon. "A lot of people say things about me, but they don't realise I have played 250 games. It's not like you just land up in the team, sit down and play 250 games. You can't survive like that in international cricket" What was the roughest patch? The wrist injury in Bangladesh, when I couldn't bat in the second Test match, that was bad. But I would say the roughest part was in Sri Lanka. I scored a hundred in the side game, fifty in the first Test, then I fell sick and didn't get picked for the third Test. So that was the hardest part. How is a situation like that handled in the team? Do you get an explanation? Did you? If somebody wants to give me an explanation, they can come and give me an explanation. Neither was I given one nor did I ask for one. It's not in my hands to be picked or not to be picked. If the team wants me, definitely I'm there. If they don't want me, I'm happy to serve the drinks. Is that why you snapped in Sri Lanka, reacting to the crowd calling you names? I wasn't reacting to that at all. The crowd behaviour was very abusive, not to me but to other players, so all I said to the security chief, all I did was say, put in a complaint to the ICC - that the crowd was bad. You're saying you didn't give the crowd the finger? This is all media speculation. They always make it up... okay, I mean, most times stuff is made up. The same thing happened in West Indies when we went to eat after a match. There was no fault of the players. Cricketers are playing for India. You have a responsibility as ambassadors and we don't do these things. Everybody has a temper, but I keep my temper in check. It's odd you should say that because to the public it looks as if you are angry all the time... People who don't know me, how will they know what I am really like? They will only see me on the field, only see me in an advertisement. People who know what kind of a guy I am will tell you I'm a very open person. On the field you have to be aggressive, you're thinking how to get the better of a situation. It's not that I don't laugh on the field. In fact, I think it's very important to laugh, especially when you are angry and aggressive, to just take the tension away, make the moment go away. That's how you handle everything on the field? No, I'm not always telling myself do this, do that. Yes, there are times when I think that if I do this, this is going to be the outcome, if you don't do it, all is going to be much easier. If the bowler is talking a lot, I just think that I should first make a big score and then show him the bat. In a heated argument outside, if someone says something, you want to reply, but you realise he is trying to get importance out of picking a fight with you. So then I think, I look and I move. Normally we react emotionally, so I try to keep my emotions in check. I can't do it every time. This is something I have changed about myself, because in the past I would always react. Then I figured that not saying anything can sometimes be more powerful than talking. Normally I don't react too much to criticism, but when criticism gets too harsh and not acceptable, then I have to say it is not acceptable. Which is what happened at the IPL this year, when it was said that I was underperforming. That is ridiculous, I won't accept that. How much did that get to you? It hurt a lot. It was not even like just feeling bad. It was a lot of hurt because you have played your cricket with so much pride and passion, for your country and in whatever games you are involved in. No one realised that I'd just come from a wrist injury and I was struggling to hit the ball. I was just getting into the tournament, it was a serious injury - I tore the cartilage in my left wrist, which is the hand from which I generate my power. So to be hearing stories that you are underperforming because you are not the captain, that was just rubbish. Did losing the captaincy of Kings XI bother you? It didn't bother me in the sense that if they would have told me in advance... See, I had no issues with Sangakkara captaining the side, I welcomed the idea that they felt that I was better off as a player and Sangakkara could do the captaincy. I get along with him very well. He's more than welcome to be the captain of the side, he is captain of Sri Lanka, and I have no issues. I've played under every captain but I thought the situation could have been handled better. After that kind of a year, do you want to be retained in the team? Or are you ready to move if you have to? I haven't thought about it or about what's going to happen. It's been great and quite tough also, playing for Punjab, because people really love me in Punjab and they want to come and see me play in Chandigarh. But a franchise, it's very different from international cricket. Every franchise is a powerful entity in its own right, from the Ambanis or the Wadias or the Sahara group, which has come in, they are all powerful people, they all want to win. You can't blame them, they have to try a lot of things to make something happen. But cricket is a sport and only one team can win and the margins are very small. In the third year [with Kings XI] we were just not winning and when you are not winning, nobody is happy, there is no camaraderie, there is no positive sense of approaching the next game. It's a normal human tendency - when you are not winning, everyone is going to accuse each other How have you dealt with the ups and down in your Test cricket? Do you doubt your ability or reconcile with what has happened? Why do you think things turned out like they did? There are a lot of reasons. Before I started playing one-day cricket, I used to play a lot of four-day domestic cricket. There is not a lot of one-day cricket in domestic cricket, so I was used to the four-day format. For the first two or three years, I was playing only one-day cricket and never got a chance to play a Test match. Then I thought my chance would come, that it was just hard to get in. After a few years I realised that I just can't be thinking that my time will come, that I'll get a chance; I have to do something to create a chance. So I did okay and then kept coming in and going out. It was tough to be in the XI with the likes of Sehwag, Ganguly, Laxman. At the time I should have been playing a lot of Test cricket, it was a tough middle order to get into. I knew I had the ability to make a place in the Test squad when I was doing well, but unfortunately I had a bad series. In 2006 I was supposed to go to South Africa, which would have been a testing tour for me, and I had a bad knee injury when I could have cemented my place. Call it luck or whatever. Then, recently, there have been times when I have scored a lot of fifties and sixties that I should have converted into big hundreds. Okay, maybe not all of them but at least three out of six. So I couldn't really stamp my place in the team. It did not happen but I don't have any regrets because I tried my level best. Always. No matter what people say, about what I did, about what I am like... They say you are not dedicated or hardworking. A lot of people say things about me, but they don't realise I have played 250 games. It's not like you just land up in the team, sit down and play 250 games. You can't survive like that in international cricket. In part two, tomorrow, Yuvraj reflects on the loss of his fielding mojo, mentoring young players, spot-fixing and more Sharda Ugra is senior editor at Cricinfo http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/477911.html

[ludhianvi]

-------------INTERVIEW BEGINS PART 2--------- 'I fear for India's younger generation' Yuvraj talks about how the Kohlis and Sharmas are repeating the mistakes he made, the one person who totally understands him, and switching between formats of the game Interview by Sharda Ugra September 22, 2010 The Yuvraj Singh of today is very different to the electric fielder at point. What happened to him? It is a series of things - too many injuries, from a knee to a shoulder, wrist to broken fingers. Once you're injured and come back, you can't be the same person. Firstly, you are not 21 years old. At 29 your body needs a lot of time to recover. Earlier I wasn't playing so much cricket, only one-day cricket mostly, and the body was young. I'm not saying 37 years old, but when I feel my body is 100% to stand at point, I will go and stand at point. In the last series I was standing there. I want to and I'm getting there. Sachin tells me, "If you stand at point, the team will save 15-20 runs. You just need to watch your videos of the last couple of years." I watch my videos sometimes and I surprise myself. I'm thinking, "Is that me?" When I speak to Jonty Rhodes, he tells me, "It gives me goosebumps to see you fielding." A guy like Jonty Rhodes is telling me. So I think about it. But if I am not able to dive properly or move to the ball quickly, I will not stand at point. When my body is 100%, I will definitely come back to point. I still haven't given up. What was your first reaction when you heard the news about the spot-fixing controversy? It was a surprise. I didn't know what spot-fixing was. Then I read it and some people explained it to me. I was very surprised. It is sad for the game. The England-Pakistan series was going so well, everyone was so excited about it and suddenly this thing comes up. Controversy always spoils the game. It has been sad for the game and for Pakistan cricket. They had just won a Test match. The other problem is that the moment someone is accused, everyone else starts getting accused too. [After the spot-fixing controversy broke] They are saying something was wrong in the IPL or the India-Sri Lanka 414 game was fixed. That's not done. If you have evidence, please show the evidence. You can't be printing stories just to create hype, saying that match was fixed, this match was fixed. Cricketers meet hundreds of people socially, at events, parties. Have any "approaches" ever been made to you? These things happen. You know what kind of people are around, what they are trying to do - and I'm not just saying bookies or guys like that. When you meet people, I believe you have to present a kind of body language that says, "Do not mess with me or even think of saying anything strange to me." You meet a lot of people who will try and give you advice or want you to get into bad stuff or who ask you to go and meet people you don't know or aren't interested in knowing at all. For me, my body language is such that nobody has the guts to even come and talk to me about things like this, ever. You present yourself like that, like nobody can come and touch you. If you can do that then nobody can point a finger on you. I have always been like that and I have never been vulnerable in this case. You're now one of the older guys in the team. You've been in the team for 10 years. What has the last decade been like? Are you disappointed or satisfied with what you've done since 2000? When I started my career, I felt that that was when the game was changing in India. When we were newcomers, we watched the seniors and their very different approach from what we did in first-class cricket. The attitude to playing was changing. The game too started to move at a faster pace: 230 to 240 was a winning target when I first began playing, then teams started to chase 260s and 270s. As a young kid starting out, it wasn't physically that tough. The body was young, you just went and fell anywhere - on the ground, in the dressing room, on the road. It didn't matter. You just got up, brushed yourself off and were on the go again. Mentally it was harder starting out. After a big performance against Australia and South Africa, suddenly I was in the limelight, and then suddenly you are out of runs in the next few tournaments and you didn't know how to come back. You didn't know what to do. It was a struggle. "I see youngsters like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma who are talented and flamboyant. I tell them not to make the mistakes I made. They don't listen" The days have passed, the years have passed, and mentally I've become stronger. Physically I have had a lot of injuries in these last few years, so it has been an up-and-down stage, you could say. I'm happy with my one-day career but I could have done better in my Test cricket. Now when you see the newcomers, do you see yourself at the age of 20 again? I see a lot of guys making the same mistakes. What mistakes? By mistakes I mean you come into the team, you have some success and you think, "Yeah, I can do the same things on the field all the time," which is not possible. Then after playing for India, you think, "I can do whatever I want," which is also not possible. It's just immaturity. No experience, so you make mistakes and hopefully you learn something from them, and from the older players. I see a lot of youngsters like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who are very talented and flamboyant. As a senior I tell them not to make the same mistakes I made, and try to guide them to a better tomorrow. When I began playing, you could say the game was changing, the distractions were beginning. Now the distractions are too much and my advice to the younger guys is mostly not to be distracted by what is happening outside and to concentrate on the game. Do they listen? They don't listen, especially Rohit and Virat. [suresh] Raina still listens a little bit, but Rohit and Virat always argue with me. I don't blame the youngsters for not listening, because a lot of times Sachin or Sourav or Kumble said something to me and I said "What do they know?". But it's just your age… boys mature very late. That's what I've learned from my life. As a senior, I think it's our duty to help the junior guys, like [Ravindra] Jadeja and Praveen Kumar. I think it's our duty to help them as their career progresses. Hopefully they'll listen, if not to me, to other players. When you say distractions, you mean partying, money, celebrity? It's everything. When you are playing for the country, you start having a status. Then you want a big house, you want a nice car. You become famous, people start liking you, there is media hype around you. More than the positives, which these may sound like, there a lot of negatives. You start concentrating on other things, going out with your friends, saying "I'll practise tomorrow." At that moment it's important that there is someone to guide you and tell you, "No, your cricket is more important and everything here is because of your cricket. So practise five to eight hours, and after that do whatever you want to." You need to have a balance. As one of the bad-boy generation in the Indian team, did you have a guide? I feel our bad-boy generation has always been overplayed. Most of the bad boys are actually good boys. I took advice from seniors, like Vikram Rathore: he was someone who really helped me in my career in terms of making the transition from playing domestic cricket to international cricket. Then two guys I played with, Sandeep Sharma and Amit Sharma, who played club cricket for ONGC and first-class cricket for Punjab - they always gave me good guidance. But at that time I think nobody took me seriously. Why was that? They probably thought, "Oh, he's a kid." My body language was such that everyone may have felt I thought too much of myself. So nobody thought to come and tell me that I should do this or that. I was just growing up. It was a new world for me. It was not that I would not acknowledge people, but they may have felt that I would not listen. Do you fear for the younger generation then? I do actually fear for them. If there were 50% of distractions in cricket 10 years ago, today they are at 100%. Any youngster can fall out anywhere. Especially since the IPL, a lot of youngsters, particularly in first-class cricket, focus on the IPL, which is a very bad thing. The players feel that they are not good enough in international cricket and they can survive in the IPL. You can't blame them, because the IPL gives them an opportunity to play with the best players, gives them money and gives them a sense of well-being with their family - things a normal man wants. But they need to realise that they need to push towards playing for the country. They need to be thinking of playing for the country, not because they may or may not eventually make it but because wanting to play for India is important in terms of pushing the level of their cricket, improving their cricket. I don't think the improvement of a cricketer's game can come by playing only for the IPL. You need to play all forms of cricket. Now that you play in three forms, is it harder to switch into improvising in Twenty20s or to building the big innings in Tests? Actually, after playing Twenty20 if I suddenly have to shift, I find it tougher to shift to one-day cricket than Test cricket. Earlier 50 overs would look like too few overs, and now after Twenty20, 50 overs looks like you have so much of time. It's a limited-overs format, but for me that is tougher to switch to than Test cricket. For me, switching from 20 to 50 overs, mentally you have to shift very quickly. The 50-over gameplans require much more thinking than Twenty20, where you are going bang bang. "A lot of youngsters focus on the IPL, which is a very bad thing. The players feel that they are not good enough in international cricket and they can survive in the IPL. But they need to realise that they need to push towards playing for the country" Test cricket is very different. It has changed and maybe at a faster pace, but a cricketer knows what is needed. Preparation is of a different kind. The ball changes. You want to leave a lot of balls outside the off stump. You're trying to get set, you know that. In bad times, is there one place or one person that you return to, to sort things out? What did you do, for example, when you got dropped after a long time? This was very different from when I got dropped the first time. Then I was young, I didn't know anything. I came, kept playing my game, got dropped. That happens to all young players. Everyone is not Tendulkar, who knows how to play the game properly. It's the same thing with young guys in our team. They play, they get dropped, they come back, because they are good players. But now last year was mentally very hard because it's very difficult to come back after an injury, then again get injured and come back and play and then get injured and come back again and again. What I normally do is that I don't show that I am disturbed. I never show it, I only show it to my mother. I come home and argue or scream at my mom because she understands me totally. She has seen me grow up. I have friends who I talk to, who keep me grounded. But mostly I talk to myself and tell myself that I have to be mentally very strong. At the start of a season, do you set goals for yourself? The next six months are going to be big for Indian cricket, so what's the plan? I have stopped having goals. If you have many goals and you don't reach your goals, it is very upsetting, so I just think of keeping it simple, working hard and going and playing the game. But I know there are going to be very important series for Indian cricket. I will just try my best to be in my fittest form. Not because the team wants me to or I want to but because it is the need of the situation. I have to give it my best shot because the World Cup is coming around. The last year has been pretty much down and it is time to really push the pedal and hit peak performance very soon. http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/478169.html

[ravishingravi]

Yeah, Indian youngsters need his advise

[Chandan]

I see a lot of youngsters like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who are very talented and flamboyant. As a senior I tell them not to make the same mistakes I made, and try to guide them to a better tomorrow. When I began playing, you could say the game was changing, the distractions were beginning. Now the distractions are too much and my advice to the younger guys is mostly not to be distracted by what is happening outside and to concentrate on the game. Do they listen? They don't listen, especially Rohit and Virat. [suresh] Raina still listens a little bit, but Rohit and Virat always argue with me. I don't blame the youngsters for not listening, because a lot of times Sachin or Sourav or Kumble said something to me and I said "What do they know?"

It is upto the youngsters if they want to become like Rahul, Saurav, VVS, Viru Zaheer or Srinath or if they want to languish with hundreds of no names like Vikram Rathore etc. Sachin and Kumble are out of everyone's reach. In fact I think even Rahul is out of reach of the present and coming generation now.

[King Tendulkar]

Some good points yuvi made. Really hope virat and sharma wake up and sort themselves out

[IKnowU]

Yuvi talks all that blabber.......but he stills seems a million lightyears of being a respectable senior player. He would have been Godesque like for the pakodi's :giggle:

[HowardRoark]

Yuvi talks all that blabber.......but he stills seems a million lightyears of being a respectable senior player. He would have been Godesque like for the pakodi's :giggle:

You need to shed your sensitivity around Nohit. I agree with what Yuvi has said. He is not saying that all the youngsters should learn from him as to how a cricketer should be, he is saying that youngsters can learn from the mistakes he has made as a cricketer. As much as I have issues with Yuvi about him not living upto his potential, I think that this is a honest interview from him.

[Guest Gunner]

"A lot of people say things about me, but they don't realise I have played 250 games. It's not like you just land up in the team, sit down and play 250 games. You can't survive like that in international cricket" UV meet afridi, afridi meet UV. :hehe:

[vamos_rafa]

You need to shed your sensitivity around Nohit. I agree with what Yuvi has said. He is not saying that all the youngsters should learn from him as to how a cricketer should be, he is saying that youngsters can learn from the mistakes he has made as a cricketer. As much as I have issues with Yuvi about him not living upto his potential, I think that this is a honest interview from him.

Agree with you on this being an honest interview. Infact in the past 2 months or so some of our Gen-X cricketers are shedding some light on the type of challenges they are posed with because of stardom. First it was Robin Utthapa who famously said that he felt that he could have gotten away with a murder and that was because of the hoopla generated after the T20 WC win. And now UV. Yuvi has pointed out that youngsters like Rohit and Virat don't listen at all. So maybe even they are heading towards the path of the above mentioned seniors. They seriously require some kind of a counselling. And one more name which can be added in this could be counsellors can be Dhoni,who's about the same age as UV and han attained stardom equivalent or even more than him and still been able to maintain his demeanour. But I think at the end of the day it is the choice of the individual that whether he wants to listen to these advices or not.

[Sachinism]

Where did these kids pick up an attitude where they feel they can do what they want. I swear in Indian culture people look up to their elders. Maybe Kirsten needs to come out from behind the scenes and start kicking some ass.

[Laaloo]

Where did these kids pick up an attitude where they feel they can do what they want. I swear in Indian culture people look up to their elders. Maybe Kirsten needs to come out from behind the scenes and start kicking some ass.

What culture are you talking about? :dontknow: That culture is long gone gone. This is the new culture. Most of the younger generation spend more time partying and shyt then doing something worthwhile.

[bharathh]

Why is Yuvi talking like a 60 year old?

[vvvslaxman]

Part of the blame goes to himself. Attitude is very very important. Despite his bad remarks about Kohli i think he looks more hungry than Yuvi. Someone like KKD does whatever the captains asks him to do. Yuvi kinda took things for granted.

[Laaloo]

Part of the blame goes to himself. Attitude is very very important. Despite his bad remarks about Kohli i think he looks more hungry than Yuvi. Someone like KKD does whatever the captains asks him to do. Yuvi kinda took things for granted.

http://www.indiancricketfans.com/showpost.php?p=1171848&postcount=4

[vvvslaxman]

Criticizing does not automatically mean hate. Everybody wanted him to do well.

[Laaloo]

Criticizing does not automatically mean hate. Everybody wanted him to do well.

Some people view it differently. :winky: http://www.indiancricketfans.com/showpost.php?p=1171848&postcount=4

[The Outsider]

Since I was shot down in another thread for the fact that Yuvraj chose to name the supposed 'offenders', by accusations of name calling to His Highness Yuvraj Singh : 1. Yuvraj has himself admitted that he made mistakes earlier in his career. Did any player like Tendulkar, Dravid, or Kumble bring upon accusations against him in a public interview? 2. Why choose Kohli and Sharma? After Raina, who has already found a place ahead of Yuvraj in the pecking order, who are the most talented middle order batsmen in India? You guessed it right, they are Kohli and Sharma. This is such a disappointing interview coming from someone who has been in the international circuit for 10 years and is now trying to use politics and media to get back in the side. Here is my advise - go back and score some decent First Class runs against decent bowling attacks and then come back and tell Kohli about how he is to draft his career - he has the approval of Dravid and Kumble, much better cricketers than you will ever be even after hitting 6 sixes in hit and giggle. Imagine the high ground this under performing prima donna would have taken if he actually had a test career to being with. After 35 tests, what's you average Sir Yuvraj Singh? Uhhh.. no problem with that you already said the number 35! And we have orgasms on ICF whenever Sir Yuvraj Singh crosses 50 runs, and then they bring around practice matches to defend those 50 runs in a test match! Just fold up and go home, Yuvraj. Nothing for you to do in test match cricket. Leave it for the party goers and spoilt brats like Kohli and Sharma. Blindfolded they would score more test runs than you did in 35 tests and 60 innings.

[Ram]

Oh Dear, Shwetabh has completely lost it.. A casual remark by Yuvraj about some of the youngsters in the team is apparently a soviet-style plot to defame them by playing politics through the media. Does Shwetabh really think that 'fatty' Yuvraj considers people around him to be so dumb that he could simply manipulate his way back into the team or keep youngsters out by giving interviews in the media? That being the case, we should be having all sorts of discarded/threatened cricketers giving statements about their competitors having 'attitude problems' or 'how they refused to help an old women across the street the other day...' If that isnt worse, if its is only merely pointed out that Yuvraj got dropped from the test side even though he performed reasonably the last time he played for India ( Which is absolutely true. And mind you, it was just an FYI sort of statement. No one even said Yuvraj should not have been dropped or should be in the team right now), then that is supposedly equivalent to 'orgasms on ICF..'

[The Outsider]

Oh Dear, Shwetabh has completely lost it.. A casual remark by Yuvraj about some of the youngsters in the team is apparently a soviet-style plot to defame them by playing politics through the media. Does Shwetabh really think that 'fatty' Yuvraj considers people around him to be so dumb that he could simply manipulate his way back into the team by giving interviews in the media?

Can you point me to the number of such 'casual' remarks that Dravid, Tendulkar, Kumble etc. made against Yuvarj? These were times of internet media, so should not be hard to find, thanks!

If that isnt worse, if its is only merely pointed out that Yuvraj got dropped from the test side even though he performed reasonably the last time he played for India ( Which is absolutely true. And mind you, it was just an FYI sort of statement. No one even said Yuvraj should not have been dropped or should be in the team right now), then that is supposedly equivalent to 'orgasms on ICF..'

Scoring 50 odd runs in a test match is a success only by the 'high standards' set by His Highness Yuvraj Singh!

[Ram]

Can you point me to the number of such 'casual' remarks that Dravid' date=' Tendulkar, Kumble etc. made against Yuvarj? These were times of internet media, so should not be hard to find, thanks![/quote'] Yea dude.. You'll make some Sarfraz-Nawaz style prepostrous allegation about one player trying to defame younger players because you simply couldnt see an entirely harmless interview remark for what it is.. (surprise, surprise!). If someone questions the sheer lunacy of that allegation, you say 'disprove me by pointing out to similar statements made by other players..' and I am supposed to oblige this frankly comical request by trolling the internet? WTF! I have to say the sheer hilarity of this entire thing is getting magnified post by post..! Next stop for Yuvraj; An interview with the Indian express where he blames Dinesh Karthik and Robin Uthappa for being very rude to their co-passengers in a flight! :eyedance:

Scoring 50 odd runs in a test match is a success only by the 'high standards' set by His Highness Yuvraj Singh!

It seems like your mindset is so hell-bent against Yuvraj (which is absolutely fine.. I am sure you have your own reasons to oppose his inclusions in the team.. And for the most part, those arguments have proven themselves to be VERY valid..). that you get so worked up by even marginally pro-Yuvraj posts and term them as 'orgasm of his fans..'!