IPL: Yuvraj Has Bounced Back But Can RCB Do An Encore?

New Delhi: As we bask in the afterglow of Rajasthan Royals' spectacular win in Bangalore on Sunday night, it is hard not to spare a thought for Yuvraj Singh. He did all he could to line up his finest moment in seven editions of the Indian Premier League - a smashing 83 off 38 deliveries and four wickets with his left-arm spin for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

When leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal conceded only four runs in his final over, the 16th of the innings, it seemed that RCB had the game in their control. With a cushion of 65 runs, it was just a matter of getting over the line. It was just a matter of getting things right over the next 24 deliveries - or so it seemed.

With a boom or bust approach over the next 20 minutes or so, Steve Smith and James Faulkner stole Yuvraj Singh's thunder, leaving him and his team-mates wrapped in disbelief and shock, disappointment and disconsolate. At his interaction with the media after the loss, the focus was on the destruction caused in the final 17 deliveries than on Yuvraj Singh's amazing all-round show.

At the briefing, it did not seem to matter that he chose his strokes carefully, timed them sweetly and made batting look easy; it did not seem to matter that he did not play anything that remotely looked like a T20 stroke during his innings that included seven fours and as many sixes; it did not seem to matter that he herded the RCB innings when AB de Villiers was scratching around.

There is no doubt that when he is on song, however rarely it might be these days, there is no better sight than watching Yuvraj Singh at the batting crease. AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum bring a brute power to their craft; but none of them has the elegant quality that he gets along.

When he flicks the ball off his pads - nay, say wishes it away off his pads with sweet timing - and sends it soaring over square-leg, you know that he is on top of his A game. When he sweeps a ball pitched outside the leg stump, you know that the best of Yuvraj Singh is set to be unfurled. And when he covers up for de Villiers' percentage play at the start, you know something special is on.

The disappointment and hurt on Yuvraj Singh's face was there for all to see. Yet, the 32-year-old and his team-mates will have to pick themselves up from the floor, dust memories of three successive defeats and compete hard when they take the field again on Tuesday against Delhi Daredevils.

It is never the easiest of things to wake up to thoughts of a nightmarish finish, compounded by media reports of the disaster. And in an age when most cricketers inhabit the virtual world - Twitter, if you please - they will be served enough and more reminders about the colossal failure to cross the line the previous night.

How he himself and RCB deal with Sunday's shocking turnaround will be interesting to watch. Of course, Yuvraj Singh has dealt with larger challenges in life and realises that cricket is only a part of life. But, as a team, RCB will find it incredibly tough to cope with the aftermath of the defeat by Rajasthan Royals. For the team itself, T20 cricket is life itself, isn't it?