‘Didn’t want to take a shower because I shook hands with him’ – Yuvraj Singh on his first interaction with Sachin Tendulkar

Yuvraj Singh, the former Indian cricketer, went down the memory lane to his maiden interaction with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. The southpaw made his debut for the Men in Blue in the ICC Knockout Trophy back in October 2000 at a time when the Master Blaster was at the peak of his powers. It was the same year when Yuvraj won the U19 World Cup with India, beating Sri Lanka in the final.

Yuvraj talked about a moment when Sachin introduced himself to the ones, who were new to the team. The now-former Indian cricketer was excited to the extent that he didn’t wish to take a shower after Tendulkar shook hands with him.

I was a backbencher in my class: Yuvraj Singh

“In 2000, I made my debut for India. I just went with the flow and After Playing for U-19, suddenly I was playing with my heroes. Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Anil Kumble, Srinath – big players in the team and suddenly I was like ‘where am I,” Yuvraj was quoted as saying in a video uploaded by Netflix titled ‘Story Behind The Story’.

“I was a backbencher in my class, I was a backbencher in the bus. The moment he came in, he came and shook hands with me, Zaheer Khan, Vijay Dahiya, the new guys. I remember when he turned back and went back to his seat, I rubbed my hand all over my body. I just didn’t want to take a shower because I shook hands with Tendulkar,” he stated.

Yuvraj shared a healthy camaraderie with Sachin and approached him for advice whenever he felt out of place. Earlier, he also revealed how Tendulkar helped him make a comeback after he was in the stranglehold of cancer.

Yuvraj donned the ODI jersey for the first time against Kenya in Nairobi but didn’t get a chance to bat. However, in the very next match at the same venue, the southpaw announced himself with a sparkling 84 that helped his team beat Australia by 20 runs.

In fact, Yuvraj went on to become the Player of the Match. From there on, Yuvraj didn’t look back and kept growing in stature. Yuvraj retired from international cricket in 2019 after playing his last game for Team India in 2017.