Instead, Yuvraj Singh had to wait for 18 days since the stadium hosted its first big game to enter the ground, as the left-hander is still recovering from cancer, and his subsequent chemotherapy in the United States.u00a0The Man of the Series of India’s World Cup-winning campaign finally made an appearance here yesterday, around an hour before the scheduled start of Pune’s match against the Deccan Chargers. Yuvi met the members of the team that he led in the last year’s IPL near the dug-out, then joined the team huddle before the warm up, and even gave them a pep-talk, standing next to mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton.

Back on the field: Yuvraj Singh practices some shots at the Sahara Stadium in Pune yesterday. Pic/Suresh KK