New Delhi: Former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh on Thursday completed 43 years of life and the dashing player has left several such moments for the sports’ fans to be cherished. Hailing from the city of Chandigarh and raised by a strict father in Yograj Singh, Yuvraj’s journey was about sheer hard work and determination to earn a spot in the Indian national team.
He played a crucial role in the defining moments of the national team such as winning the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 World Cup on home soil. Yuvraj retired from international cricket on June 10, 2019, ending his playing career of more than two decades.
He scored 11,778 runs in 402 matches of international cricket across all formats while returning with 148 dismissals with the ball in as many matches. Here we take a look at the most valuable moments of the birthday boy Yuvraj which has valiantly shaped his career.
2002 Natwest Series final
If you have the image of Sourav Ganguly lifting off his shirt and waving it from the Lord’s balcony then Yuvraj was the one of the reasons behind it. In the Natwest final against England, India were set to chase 325. The visitors were reduced to 146 for 5 with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Ganguly, and Rahul Dravid back in the dressing room.
Yuvraj scored a fighting 69 from 63 balls and was involved in a imperative 121-run stand with Mohammad Kaif (87*) for the sixth wicket as India went on to win by two wickets in one of the most famous comebacks in the history of ODI cricket.
2007 T20 World Cup six maximums
The moment will always be remembered for Andrew Flitnoff’s tactics to engage in a verbal spat with Yuvraj the moment he arrived to bat at the crease. But then it was England pacer Stuart Broad who faced the wrath of the heat. An exuberant Yuvraj went berserk and charged the crowd at the Kingsmead in Durban.
In the T20 Word Cup 2007 group match, Yuvraj hit six sixes off Broad’s penultimate over in the Indian innings. It helped the southpaw record the fastest fifty in T20 Internationals in just 12 balls while scripting records of plenty. Yuvraj became only second player after South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs to hit six sixes in an over in international cricket.
2011 World Cup heroics
Yuvraj was adjudged as the player of the tournament in the 2011 World Cup as India lifted the marquee trophy after 28 years. The Indian all-rounder played an integral role in the triumphant campaign, having scored 362 runs in eight innings 90.50 with the help of four half-centuries and one century.
One of the memorable innings in that World Cup came against Australia. Yuvraj remained unbeaten on 57 to help India get past the finishing line in 47.4 overs, standing tall against the bowling attack comprising Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson.
Battling off Cancer and coming back to play
Just after the World Cup victory, Yuvraj Singh was diagnosed with lung cancer, called mediastinal seminoma. He underwent chemotherapy in Boston and Indianapolis. It was his positive approach to overcome the chronic ailment and returned to competitive cricket in 2012. Yuvraj’s Indian teammate Harbhajan has shared that the player would feel uncomfortable between World Cup matches and would often cough, indicating he was enduring cancer in the big event.
IPL title with SRH in 2016
Yuvraj played for six teams in the IPL across 11 seasons, starting with Kings XI Punjab in 2008 and finishing with Mumbai Indians in 2019. Not many would remember that he was the part of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s title-winning XI in 2016 when the they defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru by eight runs in the final to clinch their maiden IPL title. Yuvraj scored 236 runs in 10 matches at a strike rate of 131.84 in that season.
Yuvraj Singh’s 43rd birthday celebrates a remarkable career. We delve into his contributions to Indian cricket and his journey fighting cancer off the field. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
