Happy birthday Yuvraj Singh - The Prince from Punjab who ruled the World

On December 12, 1981, the house of Shabnam and Yograj Singh was blessed with a baby boy, who would then go on to become a household name across the country—Yuvraj Singh, or Yuvi. A gold medallist skater in childhood, Yuvi picked up the bat in pursuit of the dream of his father. Now, since he had a habit of winning, he made the game his own, be it any sport.

Yuvi mastered the art of hitting the ball sweet and long enough. His clean striking abilities unblurred all the doubts the selectors had before picking him up for the Indian contingent that won the Under-19 World Cup in 2000. Yuvraj, the all-rounder, had a pivotal role in the victory as he scored 203 runs and also took 12 wickets.

Roughly nine months later, Yuvraj had a bigger role to play on an even bigger stage, representing the senior team in the ICC Knockout. And in his debut innings against the mighty Australian side, the then 18-year-old scored a brilliant 84 off 80. In the same game, Yuvraj held a brilliant catch at cover, followed by a direct hit, to leave Australia in trouble. Little did he know that his acrobatics while fielding would change several games in the years to come.

A couple of years down the line, he was still young, when he had to play at Lord’s—the Mecca of Cricket. It was the NatWest Trophy Final between the Men in Blue and England on July 13, 2002. No one had a single clue that they were about to live arguably the greatest ODI matches ever played. The infamous partnership of Yuvraj with his Under-19 skipper Mohammad Kaif lit the hope for the emergence of a young Indian side that would go on to lead the world.

But all this was just a trailer of the bigger picture that Yuvraj was born for. In the 2004 VB Series, his left-hand bat showed what he could do when things are going his way. 139 runs off just 122 balls at the SCG marked a statement that he was here to stay. In the 49th over, he scored 21 runs off Ian Harvey, which gave the Aussies nightmares for the next decade. 

His Test records aren’t that great, but one knock that stands out is where he anchored a 300-run partnership with double centurion Sourav Ganguly to score his highest score of 169 in Bengaluru to agitate Pakistan. The three left-handers—Yuvi, Dada and Irfan Pathan scored 100+ to take the team to 626 in the first innings after being 61 for 4 at one stage.

Cometh the inaugural T20 World Cup, the new format accepted Yuvraj with open arms. His most talked about innings, where he dismantled Stuart Broad for six sixes, wasn’t a fluke. Days later, he took on the Aussie to hit 70 off 30 balls, which included a 119-metre six to Brett Lee off a flick. India won the tournament under a young Dhoni’s captaincy, with whom Yuvi made memorable partnerships for the next decade.

In 2010, the Chandigarh-born wasn’t in the best form and wasn’t the fittest either, just months away from the 2011 ODI World Cup. His determination and patriotism, though, gave India their second ODI World Cup 28 years later in 2011. In the quarter-final against Australia, who by this time had become his favourite opposition, Yuvraj scored an unbeaten half-century that led to the ouster of the four-time champions. 

In that very tournament, he had scored 362 runs, taken 15 wickets, won a quartet of Player of the Match awards, and lastly, gotten hold of the Player of the Tournament as well. Dhoni’s winning six at Wankhede had Yuvraj in the best seat, as he opened his arms wide to see the dream turn into reality.

The world, and Yuvraj himself, wasn’t aware of what followed next. The best player a few months back was diagnosed with germ cell cancer that kept him away from the game. But what followed later stands as the story of the greatest struggle and strongest comebacks in any sport. Battling the cancer, he returned with an intention to serve the sport. But his journey post-recovery wasn’t a cakewalk.

His 21-ball 11 was solely blamed for India’s loss to Sri Lanka in the 2014 T20 World Cup final, and there were many such ‘un-Yuvi’ knocks. But even in the darkest years of his career graph, he kept reminding himself and everyone of the skill he was born with and the fighter he became after that fatal disease.

A 72 against Pakistan in Motera pelting Saeed Ajmal for three consecutive sixes, 77 against Australia in Rajkot and small cameos that went unnoticed had all the fans taken to nostalgia when the vintage Yuvi took the crease. His last noticeable knock came against England, where he stitched his highest one-day score alongside his partner-in-crime Mahi. While Yuvraj scored 150, Dhoni added 134 from his end to give all the Indian cricket fans a journey back to the golden days of glory.

In the 2017 Champions Trophy, which also happened to be his last ICC event, Yuvraj scored 53 off 32 balls against the arch-rivals Pakistan and grabbed what was his last-ever Player of the Match award in internationals. A string of poor performances and the rise of youngsters meant that Yuvraj had to bid adieu to international cricket on June 12, 2019, but by then he had scored 11,778 runs in 402 games. He also grabbed 148 wickets, while being just a ‘part-time’ bowler.

To conclude, one may say that Yuvraj wasn’t the God of Cricket or the Best Captain Ever, but he helped God achieve his biggest dream and helped the Best Captain to lift those World Cups. Currently, Yuvraj finds himself away from the game he’s played all his life. He enjoys spending family time with a lovely wife and two adorable kids. He is often seen golfing at the clubs in his post-retirement days. But his antics from playing days continue to inspire many. Surely a legend. Happy 42nd birthday.

To Yuvi, with love!