Yuvraj Singh

The superstar of Indian cricket and a former Indian middle-order batsman, Yuvraj Singh is still counted amongst the best left-handed all-rounders to ever grace the game of cricket. For a man who was once hailed as the next big name in Indian cricket, Yuvraj never lived up to the expectations at the Test match level. Apart from his batting, he was always electric on the pitch whether it’s running between the wickets or fielding at the point region. His spinners proved to be quite a handful for India when it comes to white-ball cricket.

Started his cricketing career at a very young age, he performed at the highest level for almost 10 years. In the 1999-00 Ranji Trophy season, Yuvi scored a brilliant inning of 149 against Haryana. His good performances saw him picked for India U-19 against Sri Lanka in February 1999 and in the year 2000, he featured in the ICC U-19 World Cup.

The dawn of a new era saw Ganguly become the skipper of the Indian national team and youngsters like Yuvraj and Mohammad Kaif got the opportunity to don the blue jersey.  Yuvraj made his ODI debut on October 3rd, 2000 in the ICC Knockout Trophy against Kenya but didn’t make any notable performance. 

The then 19-year-old displayed his intent to perform under pressure scoring 84 off 80 balls in the quarter-finals against the likes of Glenn Mcgrath, Brett Lee, and Jason Gillespie. Yuvraj’s all-round performance of 3/39 and 64* won the man of the match in the first match at Lords and he continued to show amazing performances including the final. Yuvraj scored 69 off 63 balls in a win regarded as the Men in Blue’s greatest ODI victories against England. He then went on to become one of India’s indispensable middle-order batsmen until 2011. 

In 2007, Yuvraj hit his peak form. However, while he was able to help India win the T20 World Championships, he would have been disappointed that he was not able to do the same in the preceding ODI World Cup. Yuvraj scored the fastest fifty ever in the inaugural T20 world tournament. He did so by smashing 6 sixes in an over. His 12 ball half-century is a record still intact in the record books. The Chandigarh cricketer also scored 70 off 30 balls against Australia in the semi-finals to help India qualify for the Finals. He was awarded as the Man of the Series in the ICC mega event. Yuvraj was an absolute beast in the 2011 ICC World Cup. He won the man of the match award 4 times in the tournament. He was Mr. consistent whenever the team needed him to chip in some runs or break a partnership taking some crucial wickets. In nine matches, Yuvraj scored 362 runs and took 15 wickets with his spin bowling, and earned another Player of the Series award in the ICC World Cup.

Following the tournament, a tumour was diagnosed in his left lung. The entire nation prayed for him as he battled cancer. Yuvraj not only overcame the dreaded disease but also made an emotional and successful comeback at the highest level.

After a successful IPL career, first with the Kings XI Punjab(now known as Punjab Kings), Royal Challenger Banglore and ended his IPL career playing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. On June 10th, 2019 Yuvraj called quits and hung his boot from all forms of cricket.

(As of April 2021)