Yuvraj Singh

The “Prince charming” of Indian cricket, Yuvraj Singh stands in a class of his own among cricketers with his exceptional batting prowess and outstanding fielding acumen. Born on the 12th of December 1981 in Chandigarh, Punjab, the young left-hand batsman made an early entry in the international cricketing arena as the son of the former Indian cricketer Yograj Singh. Beginning his career as the captain of U-19 Punjab Cricket Team, he scored 358 runs against Bihar U-19 in the final of Cooch-Behar Trophy and made his way to the U-19 World Cup held in Sri Lanka in Januray 2000.

Later, Yuvraj went ahead to play his first ODI match against Kenya at Nairobi in the ICC Knockout Trophy held in 2000. In the very second match, Yuvraj made his presence felt by scoring a cracking 84 runs off 82 balls against Australia. After hitting a lean patch, he failed to secure a place for the series against Australia in early 2001, but on his inclusion later in the year he scripted an Indian win against Sri Lanka with his match-winning knock of 98 runs. His consistent performances with the bat and an uncanny ability to produce stunning run-outs and catches out of nowhere has made Yuvraj Singh an important cog in the wheel of Indian cricket. With his determined and fearless approach, Yuvraj developed the ability to build crucial partnerships early in his career and made numerous match-winning contributions with his bat. One such instance was the final of NatWest Series against England in July 2002 where he built a match-winning partnership with Mohammed Kaif to help secure an Indian victory.

Yuvraj Singh also represented India in the 2003 Cricket World Cup where he did not fail to impress everyone with his performances. Later in the year, he made his test cricket debut where he was included due to non-availability of Captain Saurav Ganguly in a test match against New Zealand in Mohali. He got another chance to play in the test cricket team in the 2004 tour to Pakistan where Yuvraj scored his first test century in the second test against Pakistan, which India lost nonetheless. His performance in the test cricket has been off and on with fluctuating fortunes. In the ODI format of the game, however, Yuvraj Singh had an excellent time in the field in 2005-2006 with some excellent fielding efforts and an unusual form with the bat. During this period, Yuvraj was named as Man of the Series for 3 consecutive series against South Africa, Pakistan and England.

Yuvraj also represented India at the 2007 Cricket World Cup but could not come up with any memorable performance even as India crashed out of the Cup itself in the early stages. Later, in September 2007, he was again on a dream run with his appointment as the Vice-Captain of Indian team in ICC World Twenty20 2007. Yuvraj Singh made history in the Twenty20 World Cup by hitting six consecutive sixes against England in a Super 8 match held at Kingsmead in Durban on September 19, 2007. This created the record for the first ever scored six sixes in match between two test cricket playing teams and also included the longest six of 119 meters. Yuvraj Singh also made the world record for scoring the fastest half-century in just 12 balls. In the ICC World Twenty20 2007 Semifinals against Australia, he was selected man of the Match for his 70 runs off 30 balls and currently stands as the world's leading Twenty20 batsman with an amazing strike rate of 235.09.

Yuvraj Singh truly represents the resurgent face of the Indian cricket, capable of fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of a billion people and reaching heights unthought of before.