Yuvraj Singh (file photo) Speaking about the time he was diagnosed with cancer, Yuvraj Singh said the disease started when he was at the peak of his career even as he continued to play for India.At that time, Yuvraj had just played a big role in India’s World Cup win in 2011, he was the player of the tournament. He struggled with fatigue, nausea and discomfort throughout the tournament. The disease was not detected at the time and he continued to play.
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Yuvraj Singh hits out at media at YWC Gala, praises Shubman Gill’s sublime form After the tournament, his condition worsened and medical tests later revealed a rare form of cancer with a tumor in his chest.“Not dealing with that was something I was going through because as a sportsperson you can’t be sick. You should be playing for India. But I ended up getting sicker and sicker as I kept playing cricket,” Yuvraj said in an interview with Michael Vaughan on The Overlap YouTube podcast.He said sports often train players to ignore such symptoms. “As a sportsperson, you don’t think about being sick. You should be playing for India.”“It was hard to accept. At the peak of your career, you’re on top of a mountain and then you fall into a ditch,” Juraj said when he learned he had cancer. “I was in Delhi. We toured the West Indies and England. Ganguly had retired and my Test slot had just opened up. I had been waiting for that slot for seven years. I said, ‘I don’t care if I die, I need the slot.’ But I got more and more.”The seriousness of his condition came to light after doctors explained the risks.“He said to me: ‘Mate, I’ve been looking at your scans. The tumor is sitting between your heart and your lungs, right on the pipe. You’re either going to play cricket or you could have a heart attack. I think you’ve got three to six months if you don’t go on chemotherapy.’This forced him to step back and make a decision.“That’s when I realized I really had to think about what I had to do. It wasn’t easy because I run a cancer foundation that focuses on early detection, and here I was not coming to terms with what I was going through,” he said.Yuvraj then went abroad for treatment and underwent chemotherapy in the United States in 2011–12. He said it took him a while to accept the situation.“It took me almost a year to accept that I might not be able to play cricket again. But once the treatment was over I was determined to come back even though no one believed I could.”During his treatment, he continued to watch the game and also received visits from senior players like Anil Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar.
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“I was watching old videos. Anil Kumble came to America, closed my laptop and said, ‘Focus on your health, stop watching cricket videos’.” Sachin came to England to see me. Dr. Einhorn gave me confidence; he said, “You will be the man who walks out of this hospital and will never have cancer again.” I came back and in six months I was playing for India – T20 World Cup. I wasn’t at my best but I still got one man of the match. Then Zaheer Khan and I went to France for two months of fitness training in a remote area called Brive. We improved, came back and came back again,” revealed Yuvraj.
