Calm; with a little help from family and Greg

Yuvraj acknowledges the invaluable support system, on and off the pitch

Subdued during Team India8217;s fielding routine at the Warner Park, probably due to a stiff back it, finally, kept him out of the third ODI, Yuvraj Singh couldn8217;t resist taking this one crack at MS Dhoni. 8220;Yahan pe tu chhakka nahin maar sakta You can8217;t hit a six here,8221; he grinned.

The bonding is obvious, so is the change in the dashing Chandigarh left-hander 8212; from an unsure, edgy loner to an assured, key member of the team. Even a mentor, especially to the younger gang, though he8217;s only 24 himself.

8220;Some of the boys do talk to me, there8217;s a very good rapport between them, in the team, I am not too old at the moment. Whatever I have gained in these four-five years, I try to pass it on to them,8221; says Yuvraj.

It8217;s the confidence, the poise that comes with a bank of runs to lean on. And to trace Yuvraj8217;s second coming on the one-day stage, you only need to go back to August last year and the Indian Oil Cup in Colombo where he scored his first one-day century in two years 8212; against the West Indies.

Then, the graph begins to climb. An average of 54 in the Zimbabwe one-day series, 69 versus South Africa and the turning point against Pakistan: scores of 39, 82 not out, 79 not out, 37 and 107 not out. Those unbeaten numbers, of course, indicate that he stayed on to finish the match. In fact, since August 2005, Yuvraj has hit five one-day hundreds 8212; from a total of seven in five years and 157 games 8212; with four of them leading to wins for India.

8220;I have been thinking well, I have been hitting the ball straight, playing up the order, playing till the end, not panicking. Every year you play you want to improve and I have been playing international cricket for five years now. I have always wanted to take my game to a certain level and I am beginning to do that. I have just started and need to go on from here,8221; he says.

8220;I was always feeling good about my batting, it8217;s just that I have been getting the opportunities higher up the order and getting more time in the middle,8221; he adds.

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So what helped him claw back? 8220;A lot of things have helped me. Reading books give you a lot of motivation, and talking to Greg Chappell about the mental part of my batting. Then, there8217;s support from your family,8221; he says.

It8217;s a newfound sense of calm that shines through when he goes back to that one run at Kingston. 8220;I didn8217;t know what to say, I didn8217;t know what to do, I didn8217;t know what had happened. I was just shattered. But then, that8217;s the way cricket is. You8217;ve got to take it in your stride,8221; he says.

8220;You feel bad, the people who care about you feel bad. But the team gives support, the family gives love. I look back and learn from it and just move forward, make sure that the next time you are in such a position, you don8217;t repeat the same mistake,8221; he says, adding, 8216;You just can8217;t blame anyone. It was my job to take India to victory, but we lost the game and I should be responsible for that if any blame has to be given to anyone.8221;

His philosophy now, he says, is 8220;work hard, give your best and leave the rest to God.8221;