‘He used to cough vehemently’ - Ravichandran Ashwin talks about Yuvraj Singh’s illness amid 2011 World Cup

The 2011 World Cup campaign was one of the most inspiring runs for Team India, putting in sensational performances throughout the tournament. India went all the way after they defeated Sri Lanka in one of the iconic finishes to a cricket game.

However, if there was one man who was the star for Team India throughout the tournament, it was all-rounder Yuvraj Singh. Despite suffering through cancer, Yuvraj put in brilliant performances with both the bat and the ball and won Player of the Tournament as well.

Speaking of the same, veteran Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin came forward and opined that nobody knew that Yuvraj Singh was suffering from a serious illness. 

“Yuvi used to cough, and he used to cough vehemently. I used to think that it is the pressure of the game and he is coughing it off and he used to cough in the middle. Literally, nobody had any idea, at least from the junior segment of the team that he was suffering from a serious illness,” Ravichandran Ashwin said in a video on his YouTube channel. 

“When it broke out, I was shocked because I did not expect somebody who had just become Player of the series, in fact like I would say, ‘Bharat ka Icon’. That literally was it. I think Sachin Tendulkar played an unbelievably big role in that Yuvraj Singh’s World Cup. I call it the Yuvraj Singh’s World Cup because you name it, he was there in that situation in the centre,” Ashwin added.

India kick off World Cup 2023 against Australia

Similar to the 2011 World Cup, India will be completely hosting the 2023 World Cup for the first time and are all set to kick off their World Cup campaign by taking on Australia on October 8 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

The tournament will begin in Ahmedabad on October 5, with England and New Zealand facing each other. Being the hosts, it could be interesting to see whether India are able to break their ICC curse and bring the coveted title home for the third time.