Sports Correspondent Sam Tomkinson assesses the future for one of India's cricketing superstars after his diagnosis.
Indian cricket has recently been hit by the unfortunate news that one of its leading players and star of the 2011 World Cup, Yuvraj Singh, has a malignant tumour located between his lungs. In the 2011 tour of England, Singh had to return early due to problems with his lungs.
Doctors state that Singh’s cancer is fully curable. If the scheduled nine weeks of chemotherapy goes well he should be able to resume training afterwards. This comes as great relief to all those concerned, especially the Indian cricket team who have only won three of their 14 test matches.
The 30-year-old has come across as determined and unfazed. He has indicated in recent interviews that Lance Armstrong has been an inspiration to him through the struggle. The champion cyclist survived testicular cancer and won the Tour de France seven times consecutively. Encouraged by this outcome, Singh believes that he will recover from his tumour and have the strength to become better than before.
His presence will be crucial for India if they want to push for number 1 test and ODI status as the all-rounder has scored 8,051 runs in 274 ODIs and 1,775 runs in 37 tests.