Former Indian pacer Sreesanth shared a motivational piece of advice he received from Yuvraj Singh while extending birthday wishes to the former all-rounder, who turned 42 on December 12.
Sreesanth recalled that Yuvraj boosted his confidence and advised him to shift his focus from partying and concentrate more on cricket as he could play for India. Sreesanth praised his former Indian teammate for being a source of encouragement when he was young during a game when he was playing for Indian Airlines.
Notably, Yuvraj was already an international sensation, while Sreesanth was a rising domestic player, and the pacer recalled a match he played for Indian Airlines, where Yuvraj advised him to shift his focus into cricket.
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Sreesanth was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda: “I got to play the KSCA Trophy in Bangalore. I was playing a game for Indian Airlines and Yuvraj had also come to play that match. Laxman bhai [VVS Laxman] was also playing since it was the final. He [Yuvraj] watched my bowling during the match. He was standing at slip. I had put up a very good performance in that game.”
He added, “When I was sitting in the dressing room, this is around 2003, before I played for India; I was removing my spikes and was glancing at what Yuvi pa was doing. He called me and told me, ‘Sreesanth, sab chhod de. Party-sharty sab chhod do. Ab cricket pe dhyan do. Aap India khel sakte ho’ [Sreesanth, stop partying and focus on cricket. You can play for India].”
Sreesanth concluded, “[He told me] If you keep bowling like this in first-class cricket, you can play for India in the next 2-3 years. Don’t relax now. A player like Yuvraj didn’t need to say it to a 19-20 year old boy. Today, very few players do something like this. But Yuvi pa told me, you can play.”
Sreesanth made his debut for India in 2005 and along with Yuvraj Singh, the duo won the T20 World Cup in 2007 and the Cricket World Cup in 2011 with the Indian team.
