Yuvraj Singh Opens Up: Seven-Year Wait For Test Debut, Ready To Die For Chance

Former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh has said that he was determined to take up the spot in the lineup when Sourav Ganguly retired, adding that he was ready to die to finally play Tests for India consistently.

Yuvraj played 40 Tests, scoring 1900 runs at an average of almost 34 and three hundreds to his name. He also picked up nine wickets.

Speaking on the Stick to Cricket podcast this week, Yuvraj reflected on the period when he was diagnosed with cancer, describing the struggle between his burning desire to play Tests for India and the need to prioritise his health, which made coming to terms with the diagnosis challenging.

“You’ve got three to six months left to live.”

Yuvraj Singh bravely opens up on his cancer diagnosis. 👏

[@YUVSTRONG12] pic.twitter.com/tedZNfUm6Y

— Stick to Cricket (@StickToCricket) April 9, 2026

“We were going on a two-month tour to the West Indies, then a two-and-a-half-month tour to England. Ganguly had just retired and suddenly there was my place that had opened up to play Tests,” Yuvraj said.

Yuvraj made his ODI debut in 2000 but remained an intermittent presence in the team. After Ganguly retired from Tests in 2008, there was a clear need for a left-handed middle-order batter and Yuvraj was willing to take bold risks to seize the chance.

“I was waiting seven years for my spot. In my head, I was like, I don’t care if I die, I need that spot,” Yuvraj said.

“Not coming to terms with it was something I was going through because as a sportsman you cannot be sick, you need to play for India,” Yuvraj added.

“Eventually, I got sicker and sicker playing cricket and Dr Nitesh Rohatgi, one of our close friends, a very senior doctor, said to me, ‘I looked at your scans. The tumour is sitting between your heart and lung, sitting on the pipe,” Yuvraj said.