Yuvraj Singh: The Prince who never became King
The prince walked in with his bat when the team was reeling at 90 for 3 with the Fab 3 back in the pavilion. He lambasted the world champions out of the park and returned back to knock them out of the tournament, when he hit the stumps directly to dismiss the dangerous Michael Bevan. When he walked away with the Man of the match award, the 18 year old champion had set forth his initial footsteps for a long journey in international Cricket. This was his second match and his first opportunity to bat in Indian colours. The semifinal was a similar story, when he set Nairobi ablaze once again with his sizzling 41 against the Proteas.
He had to wait for another year to get to his next 50, but he chose the right occasion. The score was 38 for 4 in 13 overs and the champ took centre stage once again. He hit the Lankan bowlers out of the park and scored an unbeaten 98. He walked with the man of the match, yet again. But, we just got to see glimpses of his talent as the best was still in store.
“Cometh the hour, Cometh the Champion” and there he came. Yuvraj Singh cemented his place in the Indian side when he pulled of a spectacular victory from the jaws of defeat against the English at Lords. Yuvraj Singh scored 69 of 63 balls when India was chasing 326 and was crawling at 146 for 5. His under-19 captain played a helping hand, but it was Yuvraj Singh’s power hitting which gave the chase the initial impetus. By then, it wasn’t just a promise from the prodigy anymore as we were starting to see results. A new hero had arrived. Yuvraj Singh had arrived.
The Numbers quandary
In the first 5 years, Yuvraj Singh averaged in the early 30’s but in the next 4 years, his average in ODI’s skyrocketed to 45. Of the 113 matches played in that period, Yuvraj averaged close to 58 in the matches won by India. In that period, there were only 2 centuries by Yuvraj which were in lost matches and on both occasions, Yuvraj got the team from dire straits to a commendable position. He scored a century when India was struggling at 35 for 5 against South Africa and then scored a spectacular 121 when the team was crawling at 13 for 3 against Australia. Incidentally both these matches were played at Hyderabad.
Yuvraj Singh – The T-20 Hero
Twenty20 Cricket requires a unique blend to succeed. The player must possess talent, technique and power. Yuvraj Singh had them in the right balance hence was an immediate success in this format. A single weakness can lead to the potential downfall of a cricketer in the shortest format of the game. But Yuvraj’s ability to score all around the wicket helped him to propel his career using this newest form of Cricket.
In the 2007 T20 World cup, after losing the first Super 8 clash against the Kiwis, India had to win the remaining matches to qualify for the knockout stage. The young Indian team needed some inspiration and it came from its favorite son in the most emphatic manner. Yuvraj Singh walked in to bat against the England team with 20 balls left. He achieved many unthinkable feats in those 20 deliveries. He became the only batsman to hit 6 sixes in an over against a test match team and also scored the fastest 50 in T20 cricket in just 12 deliveries. Though he missed the last super 6 match against the South Africans, his Midas touch wasn’t lost. Yuvraj Singh returned back with yet another brutal assault against the Australians in Durban. He scored 70 of 30 balls with 5 sixes and 5 boundaries to send the Australians back home. That brutal assault in the semi-finals served as a catalyst to forget some of Ricky Ponting’s heroics in the 2003 World Cup finals.
Yuvraj Singh -The rise and the fall
From Sep 2005 to mid May 2006, India had 17 successful run chases in succession. The main architect in these victories was Yuvraj with a staggering average of 83. The Fab 4’s presence in the middle order prevented Yuvraj Singh’s entry in the test line-up. With voices all over the world demanding for Yuvraj’s inclusion in the test XI, the call came in the final test against Pakistan in Bangalore. With Tendulkar out of the game due to injury, Yuvraj came and fitted his place with absolute grace. He partnered with his mentor, Saurav Ganguly and piled a 300 run partnership. Yuvraj Singh made a scintillating 169 with some brilliant counterattack. He scored his runs at a strike rate of 80 plus, thus confirming his berth in the playing 11 against Australia.
The 4 innings in Australia fetched him a paltry 17 runs including 2 ducks and created a big dent in the Indian middle order. It has been a free fall since then, with Yuvraj still searching for his next test hundred since that majestic 169. He has a fixed test slot now with the exit of Saurav, but his position still remains as the most vulnerable of all.
The last year and a half has been marred with injury problems and disciplinary issues for the Champion left hander. It started with a finger injury which was followed by a ligament tear. Yuvraj Singh was back for the IPL 3 but returned empty handed. He did not manage to score even a single 50 and scored just 199 of his 14 innings. The batting issues were blemished over the captaincy issues and his supposedly transfer to another IPL franchise.
The issues about him being overweight were put aside when he was chosen to West Indies for the T-20 world cup. Despite the confidence from the team management he failed in the Caribbean miserably. This was followed by the much spoken about Pub brawl at St.Lucia which took Indian cricket to a new low.
Following these, Yuvraj Singh was dropped from the ODI side for the first time only to be included in the upcoming test series against Sri Lanka.
The future?
What started of as a fairytale now beckons to come to a premature end. The Yuvraj of the past who walks in and ransacks the opposition bowling attack is yet to be seen for quite sometime now. With the Powerhouse that he is and the talent that he possesses, an abrupt end to his career will certainly break a million hearts.
Yuvraj Singh has made his supporters rejoice and has given loads of moments to cherish. But, let us hope that he brings back his magic yet another time to make the billion hearts smile by winning the world cup. But for that, he need to comeback fitter and prove his worth. He can take a cue from his mentor, who made a comeback after being snubbed by the national team. After all, Yuvraj Singh is the most talented left hander of this era only after Brian Lara.
Till he comes back and proves his worth, he will always be called as the prince who never became King!
JULY 12, 2010
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