Yuvraj Singh had a stellar career for Team India. Making his debut in 2000, the swashbuckling all-rounder retired in 2019 after having played his last game in 2017. While he couldn’t be a regular in the Test line-up, Yuvraj is regarded as one of the best white-ball players.
Yuvraj made his international debut during the Sourav Ganguly-led Team India’s ICC Knockout Trophy campaign, in Nairobi. In the quarter-final game, the former all-rounder made his presence felt against a solid Australian line-up. The then 18-year-old Yuvraj returned with a match-winning 84 to be adjudged Player-of-the-Match and guided India to a 20-run win over the Men in Yellow.
Nonetheless, Yuvraj had a sleepless night before his debut game. Recalling the night before the encounter, Singh said he could not sleep the whole night. The then skipper Ganguly had asked the southpaw whether he would be interested in opening the innings. To this, Yuvi had also given his nod.
“Yeah, if you want me to open, I’ll open,” Singh told Sports 18’s Home of Heroes. “Whole night I didn’t sleep.”
“I was batting at No. 5, very nervous. But when I went into bat, focus turned to watching the ball,” recalled Yuvraj who faced the likes of Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie along with Australians’ sledging. However, Yuvi went past all obstacles and was even given a reprieve at 37 as he made a memorable start to his international career. “If I today would’ve scored 37 on my debut against Australia, I would’ve been very happy because of the attack that I was facing,” Yuvraj asserted. “Luckily, I went on to score 84, I don’t know how, just watched the ball, hit the ball. It was a very big moment for me, to beat Australia and get the Man-of-the-Match award,” he added.
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Yuvraj ended his international career with 1,900, 8,701 and 1,177 Test, ODI and T20I runs, respectively. In addition, he accounted for 148 international scalps. He was one of the top performers for India during the title-run in 2007 T20 World Cup and ended as the Player-of-the-Tournament in MS Dhoni & Co.’s 2011 ODI World Cup triumph.
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