Father awaits Yuvraj’s ‘homecoming’

“He has played at the PCA Stadium (in Mohali), but I would call this the true homecoming,” Yograj said. “Yes, it was a different feeling when he first played for India, but I have longed for this moment — Yuvi stepping down from the stairs and walking out to bat on a pitch he knows like the back of his hand,” Yograj, who shared the new ball with his friend from the stadium days Kapil Dev in a Test match for India in 1981, said.

And the script could not have been better: India’s Twenty20 World Cup hero Yuvraj also blazed his way to a century in the ODI at Hyderabad on Friday. But with India down 0-2 in the series, things need to improve. “I have a feeling he can turn it around for India from here,” said Yograj.

And the senior Singh dismissed the notion of home pressure. “There is no word such as pressure in cricket. He cannot be called a cricketer if he succumbs to pressure,” he said.

“People thought it was a joke when I said my son would play for India even when he was just 14-15 years old. He has lived my dream,” he said. Obviously, the hours spent at the stadium, at the local DAV College nets and at the special ‘floodlit nets’ at their own backyard have not gone to waste. But, Yograj is not brave enough to see his son in action, and will not be at the stadium on Monday. “I don’t normally watch his matches. I can’t. But I will follow the scores and if my son helps India to a win here, I will feel that God has approved of the script.”