Fighting chance

For the man who times the cricket ball so sweetly, the moment has arrived. Eight years after he laced an effortless 84 against an Australian attack that included Glenn McGrath, Yuvraj Singh stands poised on the threshold. Behind him is an impressive one-day career that has already spanned 219 games, and a meagre Test resume. On the road ahead lies opportunity, the chance to prove that he's the ideal replacement for Sourav Ganguly. For Yuvraj, it's time to banish the perception that he's a six-hitting wonder who lacks the substance to last the long haul.

As with those incredible pick-up shots that he plays over long-on, timing is everything. Cautionary tales abound, none more so than Michael Bevan. Bevan played 232 times in the green and gold and was a bonafide one-day legend. His Test career, though, featured just 18 caps, the last of them won when he was still a few months short of his 28th birthday.

Over his last 100 games in the sky-blue, Yuvraj, who turns 27 next month, averages more than 46. Eight of his ten centuries have come in that period, and there's no denying that having a settled role has helped bring out the best in him. Though he has moved up and down the order according to the demands of the situation, most of the damage has been done from No. 5, from where he walloped that amazing 118 in Indore against England. In the 42 innings he has played at three down, he averages a staggering 60.41.

His combination with Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the middle of the innings has given India's one-day cricket a big-hitting oomph that it has rarely had. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag had provided plenty of blistering starts, but India have seldom had a finisher in the Andrew Symonds or Bevan mould. On his good days, Yuvraj is an amalgam of both, only classier.

What of Test cricket, though? Does he really lack the technique for the biggest stage? If he did, how could he play the sort of innings that he did in Lahore and Bangalore, with the rest of his team-mates floundering? Even the century in vain in Karachi was special, against an attack that had reduced a famed batting line-up to rubble on a helpful pitch.

The present chairman of selectors reckons that Yuvraj is a confidence player who just needs time to find his feet in the five-day game. He has a point too. Yuvraj has never had an extended run in the side, with the four established stalwarts and injury woes restricting him to a place on the fringes. But with Ganguly gone, and Australian vulnerability exposed in the wake of their own retirements, India must look to the future.

Though Subramaniam Badrinath, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina have also been knocking on the door for a while, India are unlikely to look further than Yuvraj when it comes to filling the vacancy. Ganguly made a career out of silencing his many doubters and the man who succeeds him must also quiet some of the scepticism, especially when it comes to his displays against quality spin bowling.

Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan harassed and embarrassed Yuvraj during the one-day games in Sri Lanka, and there were problems too against the left-arm chinaman fare thrown up by Brad Hogg during the last Australian summer. Technical refinement is needed, but a lot of the problems do appear to be in his mind. In Delhi in December 2005, with a Test match in the balance, he played Murali with dogged determination on his way to 77. In the next game, in Ahmedabad, with the buffer of a sizeable lead, he smashed him for five fours in a dazzling 83-ball 75.

He won't have to face a mystery spinner against England. Monty Panesar is accurate and consistent, but he certainly doesn't possess anything like the beguiling variety that the Sri Lankan duo have. The same is true of Pakistan and New Zealand, the next stops for India's Test-match caravan. Daniel Vettori has the quality, but there won't be any carrom balls or rubbery-wristed doosras to unnerve Yuvraj.

His bigger test could be against the moving ball. Statuesque footwork and too much reliance on that keen eye have cost him in the past, and there will doubtless be severe examinations from the likes of Andrew Flintoff and James Anderson, even if it's with the old ball. As he showed at the Gaddafi Stadium when Umar Gul was in the middle of a dream spell, he has what it takes to strike his way out of trouble. He now needs to demonstrate that he can do it game after game.

If he succeeds, it gives India an option that they haven't had since Kapil Dev made for the golf course: a genuine match-winner in the lower-middle order. When you go through old scorecards, it's revealing to see just how many games Adam Gilchrist turned with breathtaking counterattacking strokeplay. If Yuvraj beds in to such a role, and with Dhoni for support, India too can dream of a second wave. Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir already provide an exciting opening combination, and despite worries about age, the middle order looks as sturdy as old teak. If those who follow can reprise against the old ball what the openers do to the new one, it solves one of Indian cricket's perennial quest for an allrounder of quality.

Yuvraj and Sehwag could then handle fifth-bowler duties, giving Dhoni the option of picking three pace bowlers when the situation demands. But for dreams of such balance to come true, the main man has to seize the moment. His father, Yograj Singh, has always been convinced his son will be an all-time great. For the son, who has gone some distance to fulfilling the one-day portion of the father's prophecy, the time is ripe to prove to the rest of the world that he doesn't do things by halves.