Top 5 moments from the career of the amazing Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh announced his retirement from international cricket on June 10.

Yuvraj Singh, widely regarded as one of the greatest limited overs batsmen of all time, announced his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect on June 10, 2019, in a press conference. The former vice-captain of the Indian team enjoyed a 17-year long career with the Indian team which saw him become an integral part of the unit for a long time.

He fought and won against injuries, the worst of which was to his knee that hampered his fielding and the worst of all was his battle with cancer after the 2011 World Cup triumph, that permanently set back his career many years and though he made comebacks into the team many times after recovering from cancer, he was a shadow of his former self.

He played the best of the best in their prime and scored runs all over the globe. His Test career might not have been a fulfilling one, but his ODI and T20I career for Indian team was a huge success. He played 40 Tests and scored 1900 runs with three centuries and the best score of 169.

In 304 ODI matches, he made 8701 runs with 14 centuries and a best of 150. He also picked 111 wickets in ODIs, with a best of 5/31. In 58 T20Is, he made 1177 runs with 8 half-centuries and the best score of 77*.

Paying tribute to one of the greatest match-winner Indian team ever had, Team COC presents to you five of the best moments of the international career of the one and only Yuvraj Singh.

Check out the top 5 best moments from the career of the amazing Yuvraj Singh

An impressive first appearance on the international scene

Yuvraj Singh made his debut for India at the age of 18 against Kenya in the ICC Knockout Trophy in 2000 in Nairobi. However, he didn’t get to bat in his debut match and couldn’t pick any wicket in four overs. However, in the next match against Australia in the quarter-finals of the tournament, Yuvraj Singh showed the world the enormous talent he had.

India had gotten a good start thanks to the early assault by Ganguly and Tendulkar, but the main man to take India to a competitive total was Yuvraj, who scored an entertaining 84 in 80 balls with 12 fours and faced the likes of Glenn McGrath, who was in his prime and a young and superfast Brett Lee with ease and hit some amazing strokes.

Yuvraj Singh had arrived on the international scene.

NatWest Tri-series 2002, Yuvraj cements his middle-order spot

Sourav Ganguly was in process of transforming his new look Indian side into a formidable one and it all started in the NatWest Series 2002, especially in the final of the tri-series. England faced an upbeat Indian team at Lord’s and looked good to win the trophy as they posted 325 runs on the board.

Nasser Hussain, then England captain slammed his one and only ODI century, a 115 and Marcus Trescothick continued his good run with 109 at the top. India had the goods to chase down the total, though, in those days, 325 was an unbeatable score on the board. India made the chase harder on themselves, as they lost wickets in a heap after Sehwag and Ganguly added 106 in just 15 overs. Then both openers, Mongia, Tendulkar and Dravid got out in succession leaving India 146/5 in 24 overs.

But then two young turks Yuvraj and Mohammad Kaif got together and slowly but surely started chipping away at the runs. The duo added 121 runs for the sixth wicket and Yuvraj fell for 69 in 63 balls, but by then India was on its way to the victory, which was completed by Kaif, who made 87* and we all got to see Sourav Ganguly take off his shirt and wave it on the balcony at the Lord’s.  

2007 World T20 exploits, six sixes, and demolition of Australia

Yuvraj Singh had an enriching World T20 2007 tournament as he gave the Indian fans two amazing moments to cherish for a lifetime. First came against England in a group match, where fifties from openers Sehwag and Gambhir has taken India to 136 in the 15^th over. With not many overs to go, Yuvraj Singh walked in to propel his side to a big total and all it took was a prod from Andrew Flintoff to make the Punjabi lad go berserk.

Yuvraj Singh caught hold of Stuart Broad and hit him for six sixes in an over, making him the first man to do so in T20I cricket and also completed his 50 in just 12 balls, the fastest so far in international cricket. He ended up with 56 runs in 16 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes and India put on 218/4 on the scoreboard.

His second amazing contribution to the team’s cause came in the second semi-final of the tournament, where India faced Australia in Durban. India again batted first and looked in a spot of bother when Yuvraj turned the heat on with 70 off just 30 balls with 5 fours and as many sixes and with the help of MS Dhoni’s 36, took India to 188/5.

2011 World Cup, Man of the tournament and performances of life

Whenever someone will look back at the career of Yuvraj in great detail, the 2011 World Cup will be featured prominently in the retrospective. Yuvraj Singh had an outstanding tournament with both the bat and the ball when captain MS Dhoni decided to play the left-hander as a genuine all-rounder, in order to strengthen his batting.   

Yuvraj Singh slammed 362 runs with four fifties to his name and a century-113 against West Indies. He also picked 15 wickets, second most for India after Zaheer Khan and became the first Indian to pick five wickets and score a fifty in the same game in World Cup, against Ireland. His most important innings came in the quarter-final match against Australia when he made 57* to take India to the semis and knocked out defending champions Australia.

He was rightly named the Man of the Tournament for his contributions and it was only after the World Cup, that the world came to know that he had played all the matches with an illness that was later diagnosed as lung cancer, which took him out of the cricket for more than a year.

Final great innings of international career vs England at home

Yuvraj Singh battled cancer and made numerous comebacks to the Indian team. The cancer treatment and subsequent rehab had taken a toll on his fitness, which never got back to his pre-cancer days and was even blamed for his slow innings in the 2014 World T20 finals, that cost India the trophy.

However, he had one of his best years in 2017 and played one of the best ODI innings, at home against England in an ODI. He scored his highest score in 50-over international cricket- 150 at Cuttack and along with old friend MS Dhoni (134) added 256 runs for the fourth wicket to take India to 381 runs.

This century proved to be his last in ODI cricket and though he made one more memorable fifty against Pakistan in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy; failure to score in rest of the tournament and on the subsequent tour of West Indies and dodgy fitness closed doors on his return to Indian team permanently.