MUMBAI: Just a few weeks after winning the

World Cup

, its man of the tournament -

Yuvraj Singh

- was diagnosed with 'lung cancer'.

"He was coughing and vomiting all through the tournament. But we thought it was just the stress, and his desire to excel on the biggest stage... so we ignored it," his mother

Shabnam Singh

told TOI in an exclusive chat.

"After all the excitement and the celebrations, we went for medical advice when the problem persisted," she revealed. "To our horror, we found a golf-ball sized lump over his left lung," she said.

The entire family was incredulous, to begin with. "We were devastated. We just couldn't accept it. He has had bouts of cough for a long time; but we were told it was common allergy... to dust and pollution."

Yuvraj Singh, a known fighter, was indignant though. "I didn't believe the reports," he said. "I felt fine, and deep inside, I felt good too," he said, almost embarrassed to go into the painful details.

For over three months or so, as he went for one scan after another, and one test after another, he all but looked death in the eye every day. He had a smile on his face, though, and the faith instilled by his guruji, in his heart.

"We were all worried. But he would only keep telling us one thing. 'I am a brave boy. I will come out of this,'" his mother said.

Finally, in October, his self-belief triumphed: the third biopsy confirmed that the tumour was benign. "Until then, we believed it was malignant, that it could be life-threatening," Shabnam said.

(TOI was privy to Yuvraj's condition for quite some time; but it chose not to break the story till now, given the delicate nature of his state.)

"We couldn't take it initially; it was too painful even to look at Yuvi," the mother explained. "It wasn't just the fear that is associated with the dreaded word that gnawed at us; it was unbearable to see the way he suffered. He was in excruciating pain all the time."

Yuvraj himself had gone into a shell. "He became quieter and endured everything in the privacy of his home; he made sure nobody got to know about it," his mother revealed. He, however, never gave up hope or, indeed, on life.

He skipped the tour to West Indies, citing lung infection; he underwent rigorous treatment and, at the same time, gingerly resumed his practice. After all, he still had a raging, old dream: cement his place in the Test squad.

When he arrived in England, looking overweight and not in top shape, he was almost ridiculed; nobody knew the trauma he was going through or the fact that, for quite some time, he couldn't even do basic drills.

Indeed, only his closest friends in the Indian team were aware of his condition or mental state. He scored a gritty 62 in the second Test; but sadly, he broke his finger and had to cut short his tour. It has been the story of his

Test career

.

For a long time, he had to wait in the wings as the Indian middle order was bristling with extraordinary talent; only when

Sourav Ganguly

retired, he got a longish run. Just last year, in Sri Lanka, when things seemed to be falling into place, he was hit by dengue.

Suresh Raina took his place, and scored a debut century; Yuvraj was back on the sidelines. "I want to be known as a Test player," he had once told this writer. "It is my biggest ambition and I will do anything to prove myself there."

Once the fear was banished from his mind, he began his journey back to life, and cricket. "He couldn't return to full gym-work yet. He would be breathless in no time. But, he would just not give up," Shabnam revealed.

"He has slept so many days with big needles in his body. I remember when he realized that he could get a chance to play in the Tests against the West Indies he was going to play a Twenty20 match for Punjab. The previous night he had done some tests and his arm was all swollen up. He couldn't even move it properly.

"But he refused to listen. He didn't want to lose another opportunity." Sadly, again, he didn't have a good run, scoring only 23 & 18 and 25 in the two Tests. His bowling, which had been the hallmark in the World Cup, was not even required.

The selectors unexpectedly dropped him from the third Test, choosing to give the youngsters a chance. The message was loud and clear: Yuvraj was not going to Australia for the

Test series

. It must have been the saddest day in his life.

As the day neared to pick the squad for the one-dayers against West Indies he decided to share a part of his agony. He had been advised total rest for a month, after which he is expected to be as good as new. He hopes to be back in shape and in form for the

ODIs

in Australia.

The worst is behind him, he knows; it's just a question of cracking the last frontier in Tests: his mind. He has enough faith in himself to believe that he will do that too.