India’s Yuvraj Singh whipped up a media frenzy yesterday by refusing to identify the “special person” who is the driving force behind his World Cup success.
The left-hander, 29, conjured up a magical performance in the quarter-final win against Australia on Thursday, grabbing two wickets and making an unbeaten 57 to shape India’s five-wicket victory over the champions.
The win sets up a semi-final with arch-rivals Pakistan in Mohali on Wednesday.
Photo: REUTERS
Yuvraj, named man of the match for the fourth time in the tournament, then revealed during the post-match press conference that there was someone special in his life behind his recent success.
“I am playing this tournament for a special person. That special person always comes into my mind whenever I am in a pressure situation,” he said.
Yuvraj promised to reveal the identity if India made it to the April 2 final in Mumbai.
“Hopefully it will work out in the end,” he quipped.
Yuvraj’s half-disclosure was lapped up by hungry Indian news channels, one of which promptly started a program urging viewers to send in their opinion on who they thought was the mysterious person in the cricketer’s life.
The Punjab player, who has 341 runs and 11 wickets in the tournament so far, joked it was the first time he had been applauded at a press conference.
After recent struggles with form and fitness, he was asked if everything he was touching was now turning to gold.
“I think so. Last year, whatever I was doing was turning into mud,” he said.
Yuvraj admitted his success against the defending champions was the stuff of dreams.
“I have been thinking about beating Australia in this World Cup for a year, that I would be there till the end and winning the game for India,” Yuvraj said.
“I honestly thought about this 365 days of the year. I have been dreaming of this. Probably because Australia are three-time [successive] champions,” he said.
Yuvraj’s fourth 50 in six innings, also including a hundred, took his average at this World Cup to an astonishing 113.66.
“This is a moment we live for,” added Yuvraj who said the match against Pakistan would be another “dream game” for India.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting was devastated by the end of his side’s reign as world champions, but found comfort in making a century in his World Cup swansong.
Ponting scored 104 of Australia’s 260 for six.
The 36-year-old, a three-time World Cup winner, conceded he probably would not play in another edition of the showpiece event.
“If I end up having made a hundred in my last World Cup game, then I guess I can be pretty happy at the end of the day,” Ponting said.
He said Australia had been “15 or 20 runs short” but that what had done for them was a bowling effort symbolized by erratic speedster Shaun Tait, whose seven overs cost 52 runs including two no-balls and six wides.
“I’m devastated. We came here with high expectations and had come off a good series [a 6-1 win] of one-day cricket against England,” Ponting said.
“We weren’t far off, but just little critical moments are what cost us the game,” he said. “We didn’t have enough high quality partnerships and not enough pressure with the ball.”
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