Yuvraj Singh - That Elegant Swagger, That Squiggling Backlift and That Imperious Power

Let's wind the clock back to October 2000 by simply closing our eyes and entering our mind palaces.
Here is what I see...

I am traveling with my family from Dehradun to Howrah via the Doon express train and eagerly waiting for the newspaper guy to come and deliver the paper. The guy comes around 7 in the morning, and I get a first-hand glimpse of the front-page headline - ‘A Star is Born’.

Having caught the first-page scoop, I quickly turnover to the best pages in the paper, the final two, and scan to look for the scorecard...

And there I see… Yuvraj Singh, 84 of 80 balls and India beat Australia to enter the Semis of the 2000 Champions Trophy.

And the rest from there on is magic...

Magic conjured by a magician who is blessed with the impeccable gift of power, finesse and most importantly, the match-winning ability.

For over a decade, Yuvraj Singh won India countless matches and his knocks mattered the most in big competitions like the World Cups… Be it the 2007 WT20 or the 2011 WC, Yuvi’s contributions were pivotal in crowning India as the Champions.

And like every gutsy tale, it had to come to an end when he announced retirement from all forms of Cricket.

A friend of mine posted on Facebook, the most apt line after hearing the news of Yuvi’s retirement, and I couldn’t have agreed more.

Yuvraj's retirement seems like cutting out the last string that we held on from our childhood.. #ThankyouYuvi - source Nirjhar Banerjee

The reason for my agreement to the post comes from the fact that we as teenagers saw a new Team India emerging after a deep abyss of failures and with players like Yuvraj taking the mantle of winning games for us, our belief in the side became more promising. The remembrance of that innocent childhood has now become more cherishing.

Before Yuvraj made his debut, I believed that only Sachin Tendulkar was the one true match winner India had, the rest in the team were just there to support him. Occasionally there would be that heroic effort by the other batsmen or some bowling miracle that would claw India out of defeat, but the core job of winning the match lied on Sachin’s shoulders.

It was true that most of us switched off our televisions when Sachin got out.

But Yuvraj Singh gave India a different kind of belief… A belief that would keep us in the game while he was at the crease.

In those days, Sourav Ganguly was India’s captain and even though at times Yuvraj’s form was patchy and questionable, Sourav backed him with full confidence along with others like Zaheer, Sehwag and Harbhajan, who later on went and became game changers for India.

The 2002 Natwest Final will always be remembered for multiple reasons.

Be it the statement made by Nasser Hussain with the bat, or Sehwag smashing Ronnie Irani all around the park, or Ganguly’s shirt wave on the Lord’s balcony or be it the whole of India glued to the TV set post-midnight, but none will be more iconic than two young lads fighting to win India a memorable Final.

Chasing 326, India after a brisk start are tottering at 146/5, with all the big names sent back to the pavilion. We didn’t believe that there was a chance, but we were still glued to the screen hoping for a miracle. The asking rate was over 7 runs per over and the Indian fans witnessed one of the great ODI chases in the history of the game. Yuvraj and Kaif fostered a partnership and took India closer to an epic win. Eventually, Kaif took us over the line and the world embraced the young Indian duo as the match winners India was looking for a long time.

Yuvraj’s 69 will be remembered for a long time.

Apart from batting and the occasional bowling, there were times when Yuvi’s fielding won matches for India. Crucial catches and run outs brought about a chain of collapse which eventually led India to many wins. One such match that comes to my mind is the 2002 Champions Trophy Semi Final against South Africa. Early on, Yuvi had taken an amazing catch of Graeme Smith and followed that later with jaw-dropping catches of Jonty Rhodes and Mark Boucher. It’s a very common saying in Cricket that ‘Catches win Matches’ and Yuvi’s catches in the match were a stamp of proof.

In the course of the next few years, Yuvraj cemented himself as a permanent in the ODI side along with brief stints in Test Cricket. Some honorable knocks during that time were the 139 against Australia and the 50 odd runs against Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup.

And then came 2007…

India had a horrific 2007 50-over WC where the team was knocked out in the first round. The nation was sad, and I too felt deeply disconnected from the game. It was something no one had foreseen… And in the same year, T20 cricket was born on an international stage. The first ever T20 WC was scheduled to happen in South Africa and India had the most inexperienced T20 side going into the tournament. The initial few games were close and a do or die game against England saw an amazing blitz… An innings which mattered a lot in the context of the game and did so much to the morale of the side.

Yuvraj Singh smashed 6 sixes in an over of the bowling of Stuart Board and Indian fans were astounded by the feat. I remember I was in college at that time and the whole hostel was watching the match in the common room. Every six was cheered and when the last six happened, there was so much cheer that it was deafening to be in that room. Chairs were getting thrown from one corner to the other, a band of boys were doing the Ganguly shirt-off wave, some were just shouting and there was an endless string of high-fives going around.

Yuvraj Singh gave us all an amazing moment to remember… 6 sixes in an over…

A few days later, he followed that miraculous feat by playing one of the best T20 innings I have ever seen. His knock of 70 off 30 balls against Australia in the Semis along with his enthusiastic approach in the field was crucial in taking India to the Final.

India went on and became the T20 Champions and it was the first WC win I had ever witnessed.

A huge credit for that win went to Yuvraj Singh. Even though Shahid Afridi was the Man of the Series, for us Indian fans, Yuvraj was our Man of the Series because without his knock against England and Australia, we would never have reached the Final.

Time passed and between 2008 to 2010, Yuvraj and Dhoni shared a lot of match winning partnerships and India started winning series both at home and abroad. There was a stage where we couldn’t imagine anyone better than Yuvi or Dhoni to channel the middle overs which in my personal opinion, are the hardest numbers to bat because of how the game decides the nature of the play.

… And slowly and steadily, 2011 WC came…

India along with Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka was collectively hosting the 2011 WC and the last time the WC happened in India, we were ousted in the Semi-Final stage against Sri Lanka… A match which no Indian fan wants to remember…

The stakes were very high, and it was also Sachin Tendulkar’s last World Cup.

When I look back at the 2011 WC, it wasn’t just about Sachin or the fact that it was happening in India… there was a different vibe about the side which I last saw in the 2003 WC side.
A blend of youth and experience coupled with potential match winners.

Quality batsmen, quality bowlers and one all-rounder, Yuvraj Singh.

There was one word that epitomized Yuvi’s form in that WC… Sublime…

He was attacking when it mattered like against England and Australia.

He was controlling when it mattered like against West Indies, Ireland and the Netherlands.

And he was emotional when it mattered like against Sri Lanka in the Final.

He scored 362 runs with 4 fifties, 1 hundred and picked up 15 wickets… An absolute brilliance…

The knock against Australia comes to my mind more vividly because Australia is a side who never backs down, and if you give them a sniff, they will very quickly snatch victory off your hands. India was going down that same road in the match against them when Dhoni got out and the score was 187/5… Out came an inexperienced, out of form Raina and Yuvraj stood his ground and played in my opinion, the best knock of his life.

Scoring 57 not out under pressure against the quality of Australia with more than a billion Indian fans watching from all parts of the world… it can’t get any better… That knock was his best ever…

India won the 2011 WC with Dhoni playing his best ever knock of 91, and the very emotional Yuvraj Singh came down on his knees to bask in the glory of the moment. In the post-match presentation, he mentioned that he did for Sachin and the whole of India. and on numerous occasions, he has echoed that sentiment… It was the best he ever played, and we are fortunate to have been born in the era which saw the emergence of a player like Yuvraj Singh.

Post 2011 WC, the whole world knows about his fight against cancer and how devoted he was to fight and come back into the team. We keep hearing cancer survivors say that a part of them gets lost in the whole process of the treatment and recovery. To overcome all of that and come back to play for India, Yuvraj Singh proved to the world that he was a resilient, gritty fighter who loved the game and loved playing for India.

In the twilight of his career, Yuvraj played an amazing knock of 150 against England and brought back old memories when he partnered with Dhoni to put on a 256 runs match-winning partnership… The innings and the partnership were a very nostalgic moment.

Yuvraj Singh has retired and it’s a process for all of us fans to embrace that fact and congratulate a cricketer who not just won matches for India, but won them when it mattered the most… I can’t imagine a better No. 5 in my version of the ‘All India ODI XI’ than Yuvraj Singh…

The cricketing fraternity will always remember Yuvraj as the player who brought about a change in Indian Cricket…

That Elegant Swagger, That Squiggling Backlift and That Imperious Power, will be missed.

#ThankYouYuvi