Yuvaraj Singh - Biography

Yuvraj Singh(born 12 December 1981) is an Indian international cricketer. He is the son of former Indian fast bowler and Punjabi movie star Yograj Singh.Yuvraj is a left-hand middle-order batsman and a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. He has been a mem
ber of the Indian cricket team in ODIs since 2000 and played his first Test match in 2003. He was the vice-captain of the ODI team from late-2007 to late-2008. At the 2007 World Twenty20, he famously hit six sixes in an over against England's Stuart Broad — a feat performed only three times previously in any form of senior cricket, and previously never in an international match between two Test cricket nations. He was named the Man of the Tournament in the 2011 Cricket World Cup and was one of the top performers at the 2007 World Twenty20, both of which India won.
In 2011, he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor (stage-I) in his left lung and underwent chemotherapy treatment at the Cancer Research Institute in Boston as well as Medicine Facilities in Indianapolis.In March 2012, Yuvraj was discharged from hospital after completing the third and final cycle of chemotherapy and returned to India in April. He was conferred with Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting award in the year 2012 by the President Pranab Mukherjee. He made his international comeback in a Twenty20 match in September against New Zealand shortly before the 2012 World Twenty20.

Early years and personal life

Yuvraj belongs to a Bundela Rajput family; his parents are Yograj Singh and Shabnam Singh.After his parents divorced, Yuvraj chose to stay with his mother. Tennis and roller skating were Yuvraj's favorite sports during his childhood and he was quite good at both. He had also won the National U-14 Roller Skating Championship. His father threw away the medal and told him to forget skating and concentrate on cricket. He would take Yuvraj to training every day. He studied at the DAV Public School in Chandigarh. Yuvraj also did two short roles as child "star", Mehndi Sajda Di and Putt Sardara.

Early career

Yuvraj broke into the Punjab Under-16s at the age of 13 years and 11 months in November of the 1995–96 season against Jammu and Kashmir-16s. In 1996–97, Yuvraj was promoted to the Punjab Under-19s and scored 137 not out against Himachal Pradesh Under-19s.
Yuvraj made his first-class debut in late-1997 against Orissa during the 1997/98 Ranji Trophy season. In that match he did not score any runs. His first breakout performance came in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy Final of 1999 against Bihar; Bihar were all out with a score of 357 and Yuvraj opened for Punjab and he made 358 runs alone. Yuvraj represented India in the series against Sri Lanka Under-19s in India in February 1998. In the third ODI, Yuvraj scored 89 runs from 55 balls. In 1999-2000 Ranji Trophy, he scored 149 against Haryana.
In the ICC Under-19 World Cup 1999/00 which India won under the captaincy of Mohammed Kaif, Yuvraj's all-round performance earned him the Player of the Tournament and a call to the national squad.^[ His performance in the tournament included a quickfire 58 off 25 balls against Australia in the semis and, 68 (62) and 4/36 against New Zealand in a group stage match. Yuvraj was subsequently selected in 2000 for the first intake of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

International career

Yuvraj was selected in the Indian squad for the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy in the back of his impressive outings for the Under-19 team. He made his debut against Kenya in the pre-quarterfinal. He bowled four overs conceding 16 runs but did not get to bat. In the quarterfinal match against Australia, Yuvraj won the man of the match for his innings of 84 (80), against a pace attack consisting of Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie, that helped India win by 20 runs. In the semifinal against South Africa, he scored 41 and picked 1/15. He scored only 14 against New Zealand in the final which India lost. The tournament was followed by a tri-series involving India, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Yuvraj scored just 55 runs in five innings at an average of 11. Yuvraj averaged 15.50 in the ODI series against the touring Zimbabwe side in December 2000 after which he was dropped from the team.
Yuvraj made his comeback during the 2001 Coca-Cola Cup in Sri Lanka. He scored a crucial 98* against Sri Lanka in the fifth match in an otherwise disappointing series with the bat. However, he proved to be useful with the ball as he picked up 8 wickets at an average of 27.

Twenty20 and Test career

On 19 September 2007 against England in the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 Super 8 match held at Kingsmead in Durban, he hit 6 Sixes in an over off Stuart Broad. This helped him to reach the fastest fifty ever in a Twenty20 game, off just 12 balls and also the fastest in any form of international cricket. This was the fourth time that six sixes had been hit in one over in senior cricket, the first time in Twenty20 cricket, and the first time in any form of international cricket against a bowler from a Test playing nation. He has also hit the longest six of the tournament: 119 metres (390 ft) off Australian bowler Brett Lee. Yuvraj was awarded a Porsche 911 for his 6 sixes achievement by the Vice President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Lalit Modi. Yuvraj also received Rs.10,000,000 (US$252,716) in cash from the BCCI for his performance in the tournament. He is also the first Indian player to cross 100 Sixes in Twenty 20 matches.
Yuvraj also scored 70 runs off 30 balls and went on to claim the Man of the Match against Australia in the World Twenty20 semifinals at Durban.
He played against England in a T20I at Chennai where he scored 34 off 26 balls (1 four, 2 sixes) as his side lost by only 1 run. He started his World Twenty20 campaign with a 3/24 against Afghanistan. He took 1/16 against Australia, 2/16 against Pakistan and a 2/23 against South Africa. He ended up being the highest wicket taker for India in the tournament, though he could not match up to the expectations with his bat.
He got selected to the Test series against England at home, and while preparing for test, he played a single Duleep Trophy match against Central Zone at Hyderabad where he scored 208 off 241 balls (33 fours and 3 sixes) before being caught and bowled by Murali Kartik. Then he also starred in a first class match against England as a member of India A cricket team, where he scored 59 (7 fours and 4 sixes), and took 5/94 at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.He later played 3 test matches in the 4 match test series against England after which he was dropped. He later was selected for the India Pakistan Series in the second T20 he came back to form by scoring a blistering 72 off just 36 balls. He could not make an impact in the One Day series against Pakistan and England only scoring 1 half century in 7 matches.He did not have a very good IPL troubled by a back injury and bad form he was dropped from the squad for the Champions Trophy and Zimbabwe series. Now he is making a come back through India A vs West Indies A series scoring 123 off just 89 balls in the first ODI followed by 40 off 58 balls and 61 off 59 balls.
On 5 December 2013, batting at number 4 in the first ODI against South Africa in Johannesburg, he was out for a duck facing only two deliveries from young star Ryan McLaren.

Style of Play

Yuvraj during fielding practice.

Yuvraj is primarily a left-handed batsman but can bowl part-time left-arm orthodox spin, which he improved in the latter part of his career. He is not regarded as a better batsman against fast bowling than spin bowling, and cites the Indian Oil Cup 2005 as a turning point in his career. Yuvraj is one of the athletic fielders in the Indian team, fielding primarily at point & covers with a good aim at the stumps. Yuvraj is a natural strokeplayer with an aggressive style of play, as seen by his strike rate of above 150 in T20 internationals & just below 90 in ODIs. Many regard him as one of the best clean strikers of the ball, with his trademark punch through the covers a treat to watch. When in good touch, he can clear the ropes quite effortlessly. A Cricinfo report published in late 2005 showed that since 1999, he was the fourth most prolific fielder in affecting ODI run outs, and of those on the list of prolific fielders, he had the second highest rate of effecting a run out. He was previously often characterised as having attitude problems, but later often assumed leadership positions during Rahul Dravid's tenure as captain.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India nominated Yuvraj Singh for the Arjuna Award, after his man of the series performance in the 2011 World Cup. Yuvraj's much awaited second innings after 10 month sabbatical was washed out by rain on 8 Sep. However he made his entry on 11 September 2012 in the second and final T20 match of the series.

Indian Premier League

He was the icon player and captain for Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kings XI Punjab in the first two seasons; in 2010, the third season, icon player status was abolished and the captaincy given to Kumar Sangakkara. They came second in the round-robin phase of the tournament, but lost their semi-final to the Chennai Super Kings. On 1 May 2009, Yuvraj picked up his first hat-trick in T20 cricket against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Kingsmead in Durban, the same ground where he hit his six sixes. He dismissed Robin Uthappa, Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis. On 17 May 2009, Yuvraj picked up his second Twenty20 hat-trick against Deccan Chargers at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. Yuvraj dismissed Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds and Venugopal Rao.
The Pune Warriors were a new team introduced for the 2011 IPL. Yuvraj Singh was bought by the team and chosen as captain. Pune Warriors finished ninth, ahead of only the Delhi Daredevils. From 14 matches, Yuvraj scored 343 runs at an average of 34.30, including two half-centuries. After much controversy BCCI had allowed Pune Warriors to have his replacement for 2012 Indian Premier League, citing his medical condition and nonavailability for 2012 IPL due to the same