When Yuvraj Singh turned the clock back at Edgbaston

LONDON: Back in 2000, a tall and spindly teenager from Punjab with a gift for stunning strokeplay made the cricket world sit up and take notice in the Champions Trophy in Nairobi. On Sunday 17 years later, Yuvraj Singh turned the clock at Edgbaston with a knock (53 off 32 balls) that had the nation enthralled and which his captain described was "game-changing."Between those two knocks hangs one of the most incredible life stories in modern sports. Consider this: Yuvraj is the only Indian cricketer to hit six sixes in an over in a World Cup game - it came against England in T20 2007. He was the player of the tournament in the 2011 World Cup. Then days after his finest moment in sports, he was detected with cancer. He underwent three rounds of chemotherapy in the US. And then, he was lampooned for failing in the 2014 T20 World Cup final against Sri Lanka.It seems a bit harsh that fate chose Yuvraj Singh, forever the big-hearted, happy-go-lucky, party-loving, insanely talented cricketer, for such stern trials. Trials to test his faith. To shake his beliefs to the core. To make him contemplate giving up the game, and then to reach deep, deep within to find, and nurture, that one spark to keep going.The Yuvraj who first shone on in the 2000 Champions Trophy, and the one who won the game for India on Sunday, in the same Champions Trophy 17 years later, are two different people. The new one has a thicker skin. His lips are usually pursed, suggestive of effort. The eyes usually glare. The mind seems clearer. The tears flow more easily now, especially in moments of elation.Perhaps it was inevitable that Yuvraj, the hero of India's big win, would dedicate the knock to fighters of all hues. "My innings on #CancerSurvivorDay is dedicated to all the heroes and survivors. Also my thoughts and prayers to all impacted in #londonattack," he tweeted.Who knows survival better? After all, where are the people of his generation? Nobody. Mohammad Kaif, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag none of them were playing at Edgbaston. As fate, again, would have it, the lows, inevitably, have been followed by highs, or incredible strokes of luck. The 150 against England at Cuttack this year was hailed as a comeback fit for the gods. He had not played a single ODI between the years 2014-16. Sunday's is again a fairytale knock, the kind which can be conjured only by someone leading a charmed life.Why did Hasan Ali, after all, not manage to hold on to a catch even school children wouldn't fumble? Yuvraj retorted with the fastest fifty by an Indian, off 29 balls, in the Champions Trophy. In his book about the struggles with cancer, he wrote, "I was not going to feel sorry for myself." On Sunday, he said, "You just have to back yourself, and tell the opposition you're here to attack. I was dropped, but I capitalized."Yuvraj was playing in England for the first time since 2007. He had been ill when India landed, missing training sessions and two warm-up games. His selection wasn't automatic, with Dinesh Karthik breathing down his neck. But he had a backer in captain Virat Kohli, who often seems in awe of Yuvraj's sublime strokeplay.Back in January, Yuvraj admitted he had nearly given up the game, only to be prodded to play on by the likes of Kohli. On Sunday, Kohli said, "I felt like a club batsman while playing alongside Yuvi. It was a game-changing innings. If he plays like that you know the team is always in a good space. That's why we still back him, and will continue backing him. Three times out of five he will do it for you."Three times out of five are good odds, the kind Yuvraj would gladly take. After all, he has been riding destiny's roller-coaster for a while now, and getting pretty good at it. Maybe, there's a reason fate chose him. He can take the hard knocks and turn them into blessings. He's a survivor, maybe the best there is in modern sport.