By Sharda Ugra
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 I’m 37-years-old now, but when I feel my body is 100 per cent 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.
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 after 10 years in international cricket. 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.
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.
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 you fear for the younger generation then?
I do actually fear for them. If there were 50 per cent of distractions in cricket 10 years ago, today they are at 100 per cent. Any youngster can fall out anywhere. Especially since the IPL, a lot of youngsters, particularly in first-class cricket, focus on the IPL. 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.
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. 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.
