Mumbai, April 4: A tired but beaming Yuvraj Singh addressed the media after clinching the World Cup for India. With four Man-of-the-Match awards and the Man-of-the-Series award to his credit, Yuvraj was fittingly out in the middle as skipper MS Dhoni hit the winning runs. Just like his skipper, he stressed the importance of team work in conducting a successful series.
True to his promise, the all-rounder revealed the ‘special person’ for whom he wanted to win the cup.
Excerpts from the interaction
On the special person
It was not my girlfriend or [anyone else] - it was for Sachin Tendulkar.
On how he handles criticism
Well, criticism is part of the game. If you don’t do well, criticism comes to you. But now I don’t think there will be any criticism because we won. I just think it is part and parcel but it goes overboard [sometimes]. I think we should have it in control but that is just part of the media. I am sure people sitting here do understand that and [about] the life we lead day in and day out. One day you score a hundred, the next day you score a zero so, that’s the way the game goes. I think people should understand that.
On going through tough times to reach this phase
Last year was pretty tough, I had too many injuries, and my form wasn’t great. Ranji Trophy was something that I played and got a lot of practice from, so I think I was building on everything. Then the game against Australia, then the tour to South Africa, I was scoring but not [really firing]. So I think everything came [together] at the right time for me. All the hard work and all the practice has come [to fruition] at the right time.
On the role his skippers have played in his career
When I started my career, Sourav [Ganguly] was my captain and definitely he supported me a lot. There have been times when I have been up and down and I have Mahi’s [MS Dhoni’s] support as well. Mahi has been a great captain for India - whatever he’s done has turned into gold, so I think he should keep doing that. Support is important for the whole team. The captain can come and say that ‘I support your place’ but it is very important that the whole team supports you. The support is what makes team unity so definitely, Sourav and MS have been very helpful for my career.
On whether there were any concerns about the team’s performance through the tournament
I don’t think there was any worry. Most of the games we played very well. The only one game we lost was against South Africa, I think [the batsmen] made a lot of errors in the last ten overs. That’s part [of the game] and that can happen. I think momentum was superb and everybody handled the pressure really well. Everybody contributed and it was the team contribution at every stage of the game playing in pressure situations. Backing themselves, the team backed you 100 percent. So I think that was the main reason for the team going through.
