Wednesday Brief

There have been quite a lull in the Indian Political scene, and so I am writing on some different topic today, and the topic  is Cricket. You all will remember, about 2 weeks back I had written about Kapil Dev, the great all rounder of Indian cricket and today I am writing about one more Indian all rounder and he is

Yuvraj Singh

 

He started his career as cricketer at the age of 14 years for Punjab under 16 team during 1995-96. In the next year he was promoted to under 19 team, in the first match he played against Himachal Pradesh , he scored century.He was team member of under 19 World Cup team. He had a wonderful performance as all rounder and won player of tournament award.

His International career began with his selection in the team for ICC knock out trophy in 2000, where he made his debut against Kenya, where he did not bat and bowled 4 overs for 16 runs.In the quarter final match against Australia he scored 84 runs in 80 balls and won Man of the Match award, In the semi finals he scored 41 and picked 1/15. In the final which India lost to New Zealand  he scored only 14 runs. In the next 2 years he was in and out of the team.

His next note worthy performance was in the finals of Natwest trophy in England in 2002. India was struggling at 146/5, while chasing England’s 325/5, when Kaif joined Yuvraj at crease. This pair stabilized the innings, and shared partnership of 121 runs, when Yuvraj was out for 69(63 balls). The Indian team went on to win the match at Lords .

He scored his first ODI century against Bangladesh on 11 Apr 2013. He made his test debut against New Zealand in Mohali, where he scored 20 and 5*.

Yuvraj was picked in both Test and ODI squads for the Pakistan tour in January–February 2006.India lost the test series 1-0, he scored century in 2^nd test. In the one-day series,he was in good form and his performance helped India to win series 4-1…

In the Word Cup 2007, India’s performance was not up to the mark and they could not qualify for knock out stage,

Yuvraj was the vice-captain of the Indian squad, with Dhoni as Captain, at the inaugural World T20 in South Africa., in Aug 2007.In India’s Super 8 match against England at Durban, he hit 6 sixes in an over off Stuart broad. In the process, he reached the fastest fifty ever in a T 20 game, off just 12 balls, which was also the fastest in any form of international cricket. This was the first time that six sixes had been hit in one over in senior cricket, the first time in T20 cricket, and the first time in any form of international cricket against a bowler from a Test playing nation. He finished his innings with 58 runs off 16 balls and won the man of the match.

His next peak was 2011 ODI World Cup, which was the dream cup for Yuvraj, as he scored 362 runs and took 15 wickets, in the process becoming first all rounder to score 300 runs and take 15 wickets in a single World Cup. He also became first to score 50 runs and take 5 wickets in World Cup match. His performance match wise

1.Bangladesh- did not bat                        42 (Ball Bowled) 42 (runs conceded)

2.England- 58 runs in 50 balls,                  42(BB), 56 (RC)

3.Ireland-50 runs in 75 balls,                     60(BB),31 (RC), 5 Wickets

4.Netherlands- 51 runs in 71 balls              54(BB), 43(RC), 2 Wickets

5.South Africa-12 runs in 4 balls                 48(BB), 47(RC),

6.West Indies-113 runs in 123 balls            24 (BB), 18(RC), 2 Wickets

7.Australia(QF)-57 runs in 65 balls             60(BB), 44(RC), 2 Wickets

8.Pakistan(SF)-0 runs in 1 ball                    60(BB) 57 (RC), 2 Wickets

9.Sri Lanka(F)-21 runs in 24 balls               60(BB), 49(RC), 2 wickets

He was named player of the World Cup, and won Man of the Match award 4 times in this World Cup.

He had respiratory problems through 2011, he played World Cup with this problem, and in May 2011 he withdrew from the ODI series against West Indies. Later he toured England but returned home after breaking his finger in the Test Match an Nottingham. He then played two tests against West indies at home, but he again withdrew from ODIs as by that time, it was detected that he had a cancerous tumor stage 1 in his left lung. He immediately flew to USA and get himself admitted to Cancer Research Institute in Boston, where he underwent Chemotherapy treatment, and at later stages he consulted world famed oncologist Dr Lawrence Einhorn at Melvin & Bren Spencer Cancer Center at Indianapolis, Indiana. His mother Shabnam Singh was with him in USA during his treatment.

In March 2012, Yuvraj was discharged from hospital after completing the third and final cycle of chemotherapy and returned to India in April.

The selectors picked Yuvraj Singh to be a part of the 15-member Indian squad for the World T20 in Sri Lanka in Sept 2012.

He started his World T20 campaign with a 3/24 against Afghanistan. He took 1/16 against Australia, 2/16 against Pakistan and a 2/23 against South Africa. He ended up being the highest wicket taker for India in the tournament though he did not perform much with his bat..

His performance for the rest of 2012 season was nothing much to be talked about.

In September 2013, Yuvraj made a comeback to India’s limited-overs squad for the T20 and first three ODIs of the home series against Australia.In October 2013, Yuvraj scored 77 off 35 showed his dominance in the only T20 against Australia  in Rajkot. India was facing an asking-rate of nearly 12 at 100 for 4 in the 12th over but Yuvraj’s response was so forceful that all Dhoni needed to do was give him the strike. By the end, the partnership was 102 at exactly two runs a ball.

He couldn’t bat himself back into form in the home ODIs against West Indies or on the South Africa tour and was expected to be dropped for the New Zealand tour given the conditions in that country and the hosts’ pace-heavy attack..

Afterwards he was consistently in and out of Indian team, but during all these times he kept himself fit by playing domestic cricket like Ranji Trophy , Duleep trophy  tournaments and IPL matches.

Yuvraj was picked in India’s T20 squad for January 2016 Australia tour on the back of strong performances in Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he was the third-highest run-getter with 341 runs at an average of 85.25.

We do not know what more he could have achieved , if he was not affected with Cancer.

In the Cricketing history he will be always remembered as one of the greatest all rounders specially in ODI form of cricket, in the same league with Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee & Steve Waugh.

Awaiting your comments/views/feed backs.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

3rd Oct , 2018