India's 2011 World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh said on Monday, 10 June, he is retiring from all forms of cricket, drawing curtains on his 19-year illustrious career. Fighting back tears, the 37-year-old all-rounder made the announcement after an emotional video featuring his family was played, during a press conference in Mumbai.
Besides being named the Man of the Series during India’s victorious campaign at the 2011 WC, Singh was also part of the India’s winning campaign at the 2007 World T20.
The left-handed batsman from Punjab has however, been out of favour for a while as far as the national squad was concerned – last making an appearance in the shorter formats nearly two years back.
“After 25 years, I have decided to move on. I was extremely lucky to play 400 games for India. I could have never imagined it when I first started playing cricket.”Yuvraj Singh
"It was a love-hate relationship with this game. I can't explain what it really means to me. This game taught me to fight. I have failed more times than I succeeded and I will never give up," he said.
“I wasn’t getting success, and I wasn’t getting opportunities,” said Singh, who is still looking to pursue a freelance career in ICC-approved foreign Twenty20 leagues and has been in talks with BCCI about the same.
Since making his international debut in 2000, Yuvraj played 40 Tests, 304 ODIs and 58 T20 Internationals. He scored 11, 778 runs across formats, and picked a total of 148 international wickets.
He had a dream run at the 2011 World Cup as he amassed 362 runs including one century and four fifties. He also picked 15 wickets, won four Man-of-the-Match awards and was also awarded the Player of the Tournament. In the process, he became the first all-rounder to score 300-plus runs and take 15 wickets in a single edition of the showpiece event.
In the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League, he had almost gone unsold before Mumbai Indians grabbed him at his base price. He played only four matches for the franchise scoring 98 runs with one half-century.
He was forced to step away from the game in February 2012 after being diagnosed with lung cancer. But later that year, he made a comeback to the Indian team in the second T20 against New Zealand in September.
Apart from the 2011 World Cup, another highlight in his illustrious career would be the 6 sixes he hit at the inaugural edition of the World T20 in South Africa in 2007. In India's Super 8 match against England at Durban, he hit six sixes in an over off Stuart Broad and brought the crowd to its feet. In the process, he reached the fastest fifty ever in a T20 game, off just 12 balls, which was also the fastest in any form of international cricket.
Not to forget what the youngster did during the 2002 Natwest Trophy final at the Lord's. In what seemed a game that was there for England to win – after India's famed top-order flopped – Yuvraj combined with Mohammad Kaif to take the visitors home as visuals of a shirtless Sourav Ganguly waving the jersey from the Lord's balcony is one folklores are made of.
“Cricket has given me some great friends and seniors. I started my career under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy and got an opportunity to play with my idol Sachin Tendulkar and other legends like Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Javagal Srinath. My close friends who I grew up while playing for India were Zak, Gauti, Viru, Ashu and Bhajju,” he said.
In 2012, he was conferred with the Arjuna Award and two years later, he was awarded the Padma Shri.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)