Yuvraj Singh has candidly revisited the darkest chapter of his life — the moment he literally stared death in the face after being diagnosed with a malignant tumour months following India’s euphoric 2011 World Cup win. Fresh from being named Player of the Tournament and basking in national adulation, the left-hander’s career and life took a terrifying detour when he started experiencing severe fatigue, nausea and persistent discomfort that, at the time, went largely unexplained.
The diagnosis hit like a thunderbolt. Doctors discovered a rare tumour lodged between his lung and heart, pressing on a nerve. Yuvraj Singh has recounted the chilling prognosis he was given: “When you’re told you have three to six months to live, the first thought is that you might die.” Medical teams warned that without chemotherapy, he risked a heart attack.
Those stark facts forced a painful decision — trade the cricket tour plans and the familiar dressing-room routine for urgent treatment in the United States. Yuvraj’s recollection of that period is honest and unsparing. After years of fighting for a Test spot and finally gaining traction, he was preparing mentally for Australia, only to be told that treatment was non-negotiable.
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“I had just started getting my place in Test cricket after waiting seven years and being 12th man for nearly 40 Tests. I wanted to play, but eventually, we had no choice but to go to the US for treatment,” he revealed to Kevin Pietersen on The Switch.
Chemotherapy through 2011–12 was gruelling — physically draining and mentally demanding. Yet amid the bleakness, rays of hope arrived. One such moment came from famed oncologist Dr Lawrence Einhorn, who reportedly told Yuvraj Singh , “You will walk out as a man who never had cancer.” Those words became an anchor. When he finally received the all-clear, Yuvraj described it as feeling “like a second life.”
What propelled his return, he insists, was competitive fire. Faced with widespread scepticism about a comeback, Yuvraj’s desire to defy the odds became his north star. He returned to international cricket in 2012 and delivered several reminders of his class — a blistering 77* off 35 against Australia (T20I, 2013) and a post-recovery ODI high of 150 against England in Cuttack (2017). He remained an influential presence through to his last India appearance in 2017 and formally retired in 2019.
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Yuvraj’s story is more than a medical triumph; it is a testament to resilience. The same player who smacked six sixes and inspired a nation in 2011 fought through life-threatening illness, leaned on medical expertise and an unbreakable competitive instinct to forge a remarkable second act in cricket.
