Former Indian World Cup-winning all-rounder Yuvraj Singh celebrates his 39th birthday today. The six-balls-six-sixes star is one of the greatest all-rounders India has ever produced.
A brilliant stroke-player, Yuvraj specialized in the limited-overs game. Being exceptional from the time he started playing, he made it into international cricket in 2000 against Kenya. After that, there was no turning back. He continued scaling monumental records.
Yuvraj is one of the greatest contributors to the glory of the Indian cricket team. In his 19 years long career, Yuvi has played 40 Tests, 304 ODIs, and 58 T20Is in which he amassed 1900, 8701, and 1177 runs respectively. Speaking of his bowling, he has 10, 120, and 29 wickets in Test, ODIs, and T20Is respectively, under his belt.
On his birthday, let’s take a look at some of the most interesting facts and achievements of the ‘The Hitter’ to celebrate his stellar career.
- In spite of being racked with pain, Yuvraj Singh gave it all to bring home the World Cup trophy in 2011. Setting aside the fact that he was battling cancer, Yuvi continued to play for his side spectacularly. He registered 362 runs comprising of a ton and four 50s along with scalping 15 wickets in the tournament. Reasonably, Yuvi won the Player of the Tournament title.
- Yuvraj is the recipient of the honorary Padma Shri award. He received the award in 2014.
- He was also awarded the Arjuna award in 2012.
- After his triumph over cancer, he established YouWeCan, a charity aimed at aiding the ones suffering from cancer.
- ‘The Hitter’ is the record-holder of the fastest fifty, a feat he achieved in just 12 balls during a match against England in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20.
- He is one of the top-ranked fielders of the Indian cricket team.
- Cricket is in his bloodline as his father, Yograj Singh is a former Indian pacer.
- Apart from being a cricketer, his father was also an actor in the Punjabi film industry. Following suit, Yuvi also acted in several Punjabi films as a child artist. He has also featured in one of the movies produced by Akshay Kumar in which he did a voice-over.
- As incredible as he was as a player, cricket was never his first choice of profession. He actually was inclined tpo acting.
- He was the vice-captain of his side’s ODI team during 2007-2008.
- He is among the only two Indian players to have been signed by the English county Yorkshire. The other one is the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.
Yuvraj announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in 2019, breaking the hearts of millions of his fans. His last game was the ODI match between India and West Indies on 30 June 2017. Although, he continues to inspire the youth willing to represent their country.
