When Yuvraj Singh spoke to The Indian Express from Motera a few days back, he talked about his dream of making a Test debut at his home ground Mohali. ‘‘It will be the icing on the cake, but I will wait for my opportunity’’, he had said.A twist of fate — an indisposed captain — means Yuvraj will make his dream debut tomorrow. As he’s done so many times before, the 21-year-old will walk out of the home team’s ‘Kapil’ dressing room at the PCA Stadium — this time wearing an India Test cap.The news was yet to sink in when he spoke to this paper on Wednesday afternoon. ‘‘I wasn’t sure of my selection till afternoon. Then, first Saurav and later (Andrew) Leipus told me about the actual situation. It feels great, like a dream come true. It seems that I have been waiting for this moment for ages and it has finally arrived,’’ he said.After a lacklustre outing for English county Yorkshire — something which he would like to forget — this summer, few expected Yuvraj to make it to the Indian Test team. But a few good knocks in the Challenger Trophy and in the tour game against the Kiwis at Vishakapatnam seemed to have tilted luck in his favour.However, with someone like Aakash Chopra scoring tons of runs with his bat, a Test cap still seemed a big ask. It’s worked out now, but perhaps, not the way he would have really liked to: in place of his injured skipper. ‘‘Saurav was in a great form and we will miss him badly,’’ Yuvraj said.So, does filling in for skipper at the No.6 position put any pressure on him? ‘‘I’m sure nothing of this kind will happen. I’ve been playing international cricket for a long time now and know how to handle pressure. I haven’t set myself any goals and will play my natural game. Of course, everybody takes time to settle in,’’ he replied.
