My best is yet to come, says Yuvraj Singh

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Star batsman Yuvraj Singh has already been part of the two World Cup-winning campaigns for India and has played a critical rôle in both for his country, but the flamboyant left-hander believes that his best is probably yet to come.

“My career is on the right path. My body has taken a toll due to injuries in the last two years but I feel that the best years of my cricket are about to come. If you have a look at the graph of top cricket players around the world, they have peaked during the 30th-37th year of their life,” Yuvraj said.

The 29-year-old was interacting with the media after launching his cricket academy (the Yuvraj Singh Centre of Excellence) at the Pathways School in Baliawas, off the Gurgaon-Faridabad road on Monday.
Yuvraj, who has been included in the squad for the first Test against the West Indies, said he was confident ahead of his return to international cricket since his finger injury during the second Test against England in July-August this year at Trent Bridge.

Youngsters rosé to the occasion in the payback series against England as India routed the visitors 5-0 in the ODIs. Yuvraj, however, said that the seniors were an important part of the team composition.

“It’s important to have good mix of seniors and youngsters in the team. Seniors are important as they have the experience,” Yuvraj said.

And while many believe that Andrew Flintoff was the immediate provocataion when Yuvraj hammered six consecutive sixes off a Stuart Broad over in a Group E game of the 2007 T20 World Cup, IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla revealed that the original cause of that knock was Dimitri Mascarenhas.

Mascarenhas tonked Yuvraj for five sixes in an ODI on that tour to England after the then captain Rahul Dravid asked him to bowl an over.

“That day, I met Yuvraj in the dining hall and he was sitting with a long face, eating nothing. I tried to convince him but he said ‘sir iska badla to lena hai’,” Shukla said.