30 Amazing facts about Yuvraj Singh - India's World Cup Hero

Yuvraj Singh is one of the best cricketers that Indian cricket has produced. The stylish southpaw from Chandigarh has won many matches for India and is best known for his big hitting ability. While his life has always been an open book for his fans, there are a few things which are known to very few.

Here we have some of the most amazing facts about Yuvraj Singh the World Cup hero:

1. Early Life: Cricket in his blood!

Yuvraj Singh is the son of Yograj Singh, the former Indian fast bowler who played 1 Test and 6 ODIs for India. He was born in Chandigarh on December 12, 1981. His parents, Yograj Singh and Shabnam Singh divorced, and he chose to stay with his mother after that. Yuvraj attended DAV Public School in Chandigarh.

2. A sportsman since childhood:

Yuvraj was an ardent fan of tennis and roller skating. He was so good at his chosen craft, roller skating, that he won the National U-14 Roller Skating Championship. But it was his father, who after throwing his National level medal, asked him to focus only on cricket.

3. Navjot Sidhu gives up hopes!

Yuvraj wasn’t a very excellent cricketer when he started. His father asked Navjot Sidhu, the former Indian player, to train Yuvraj. It is said that Yuvraj was so bad at batting that he got bowled on a full toss delivery after which even Sidhu had given up hopes.

4. Father- The trainer:

Yuvraj’s father has a big role in shaping his son’s batting. He used to throw wet tennis balls at him in the nets to help the young Yuvraj play the pace balls and get the timing right. He would take him to training every day. As a teenager, Yuvi was sent to Mumbai to train at the Elf-Vengsarkar Cricket Academy.

5. Nicknames:

Yuvraj is fondly called as Yuvi by his fans. He is also known as the Prince of Indian Cricket as his name means Prince.

6. Early career:

At the age of 13, Yuvraj started playing for Punjab U16s in the year 1995. Yuvraj was promoted to the Punjab U19s and scored an unbeaten 137 against Himachal Pradesh U19s. He made his first-class debut against Orissa in Ranji Trophy in 1996-97.

7. First major knock:

Yuvraj’s first major knock came against Bihar in U19 Cooch-Behar Trophy when he scored 358 runs. Later in the year 1999-2000, he scored 149 against Haryana in a Ranji Trophy match.

8. Success at the ICC U19 World Cup:

India won the ICC U19 World Cup in 2000 under the leadership of Mohammad Kaif. Yuvraj Singh was the star of the tournament as he shone with both ball and the bat. He struck 58 off 25 against Australia in the semis and had earlier scored 68 off 62 and picked 4/36 against New Zealand in the same tournament.

9. Debut:

Yuvraj made his ODI debut in 2000 in the ICC KnockOut Trophy against Kenya where he did not get a chance to bat. But in the quarter finals against Australia, Yuvraj scored a belligerent 84 off 80 balls which rattled the Aussie bowling lineup that boasted of the likes of Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie and Glen McGrath.

10. The Natwest Win:

The Natwest Series finale of 2002 became the defining moment of Yuvi’s career. Not many had thought that India would chase down 326 against England at Lords. India were struggling at 146/5 at the end of 24 overs when Kaif joined Yuvraj at the crease. They put on 121 for the 6^th wicket to steal the game before Yuvraj was dismissed on 69 off 63 balls. India went on to win the match by 2 wickets.

11. Maiden ton:

After a mixed World Cup of 2003, where he scored two half centuries, India toured Bangladesh. Yuvraj scored his maiden ODI century (102* from 85 balls) at Dhaka against Bangladesh.

12. The first Indian to play T20:

He became the only the second Indian after Sachin Tendulkar to represent the county team of Yorkshire. Yuvraj’s season started with a couple of bright knocks, most notably a 71 off 37 in a Twenty20 game against Leicestershire. In the process, he along with Mohammad Kaif and Virender Sehwag, the other two Indians in the County that season became the first Indian to play T20 cricket.

13. Not so prolific Test career:

Yuvraj made his Test debut against New Zealand in 2003. He scored his maiden Test century against Pakistan at Lahore in the 2^nd Test of India’s tour to Pakistan in 2004. Since then, he featured in 40 Tests for India and scored 1900 runs. He could not maintain his consistency and lost his spot in the Test team.

14. World Cup 2007:

The Indian side had a horrible run at the 2007 World Cup as they made a group stage exit. Yuvraj scored 47 in the first match against Bangladesh, which India lost. In the next game against Bermuda, he hit a quickfire 83 off 46 to take India’s total to 413/5.

15. The Superman of ICC World T20 2007:

Yuvraj Singh scored the fastest fifty in 20 overs cricket when he struck his half century in just 12 balls against England. In the semi-final match against Australia, he scored 70 of 30 balls to earn the Man of the Match. He also hit the longest six of the tournament (119 meters).

16. Hitting 6 sixes in an over:

One of his greatest achievements was the 6 sixes he hit in an over of Stuart Broad in the match against England. This was the fourth time that six sixes had been hit in one over in senior cricket, the first time in Twenty20 cricket, and the first time in any form of international cricket against a bowler from a Test playing nation.

Watch: Yuvraj Singh smacks 6 sixes in an over against Stuart Broad

17. Partnership with Sachin Tendulkar:

Yuvraj scored 85 not out, put on an unbroken partnership of 163 with his cricketing idol Sachin Tendulkar to defeat England in the first Test at Chennai in December 2008. It was the fourth highest successful run chase in history and the highest in India. This is regarded as one of his best Test performances.

18. Player of the Series in the World Cup 2011:

Indian team lifted the ICC World Cup in 2011 and Yuvraj made the tournament his own, winning the Player of the Series. He scored 362 runs in the tournament including one century and four fifties, took 15 wickets. In India’s match against Ireland, he became the first player to take 5 wickets and score 50 runs in a World Cup match.

19. World Cup man:

Yuvraj Singh is the only player in Indian cricket history who has been a part of 3 successful World Cup campaigns. He won the Player of the Series in ICC U19 World Cup in 2000. In 2007, in the inaugural T20 World Cup, which India won, Yuvraj was absolutely brilliant in the tournament. In 2011, when India lifted the 50 over World Cup, it was again Yuvraj Singh who won the Player of the Series. In the ICC World Cup 2011, he won the Man of the Match award four times, which is joint best with Sri Lanka’s Aravinda de Silva in 1996 and South Africa’s Lance Klusener in 1999.

20. Unique distinction:

He became the first all-rounder to score 300 plus runs and to take 15 wickets in a single World Cup. He is also the first Indian player to cross 100 sixes in Twenty20 matches.

21. IPL Career: Represented 4 franchises:

Yuvraj has been shuffled across four franchisees in the 7 editions of IPL that he has played in. He could not taste much success in the IPL as much as he did in international cricket. He started as an Icon Player for Kings XI Punjab. After 3 seasons, he was bought by Pune Warriors India. When the Pune franchise was scrapped, he joined the Royal Challengers Bangalore before ending up with Delhi Daredevils. His highest IPL score remains to be 83 which he made for RCB.

22. The most expensive player:

For the 2014 IPL, he was bought for a mammoth 14 crores by the RCB and bettered it in 2015 when he became the most expensive player with a bid worth 16 crores for him and was bought by the Delhi Daredevils.

23. Surviving cancer:

In 2011, Yuvraj was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his left lung and underwent chemotherapy treatment in Boston and Indianapolis. In March 2012, he was discharged from the hospital after completing the third and final cycle of chemotherapy and returned to India in April.

24. Cars and Cars!

He was awarded a Porsche 911 in 2007 by the vice president of BCCI after his stellar performances in the ICC World T20. Audi presented a Q5 to Yuvraj for his all-round performances in the 2011 World Cup.

25. Awards and accolades:

Yuvraj Singh was conferred with the Arjuna Award, India’s second highest sporting award, in the year 2012 by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2014. The same year he was honored with FICCI Most Inspiring Sportsperson of the Year Award.

26. Acting:

As a young kid, Yuvraj featured in Punjabi movies as a child actor. He did two short roles as a child star in Mehndi Sajda Di and Putt Sardara. The Bollywood animated film, Jumbo features cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s voice.

27. Love Life:

Yuvraj was always linked with the Bollywood actresses. He was once the poster boy of the Indian team and certainly the most eligible bachelor. Yuvi was linked with Deepika Padukone. He dated Kim Sharma. Recently on 12 November 2015, after dating Hazel Keech for months, Yuvraj got engaged to Hazel and tied the knot in December 2016.

28. Endorsements:

Yuvraj was signed by Microsoft to be the brand ambassador for the Xbox 360 video game console. Codemasters’ cricket video game Brian Lara International Cricket 2007 was released with his endorsement in India, titled “Yuvraj Singh International Cricket 2007”. Yuvraj is also the brand ambassador for the sports brand Puma. He was appointed as the brand ambassador of Ulysse Nardin watch in 2013.

29. For social cause and NGO:

Yuvraj Singh, after battling cancer, started his NGO YouWeCan. YouWeCan has treated over hundreds of cancer patients.

30. Autobiography:

Yuvraj, after his battle with Cancer, penned down his autobiography titled: The Test of My Life: From Cricket to Cancer and Back.