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Yuvraj Singh – The Crown Prince of Indian
Cricket |
A Feature by
Karthik Narayan
 Every
youngster in India dreams of making it to the
Indian cricket team, and making a name amidst
the crores of population that this country has
got, not to forget the adulation the world over!
Yuvraj Singh was just another kid watching TV
and wondering when he would pack some runs for
himself representing India.
Passion undoes men to do strange things, one of
them is chasing a dream. And every dream needs a
kick-start – in Yuvraj’s case, good performances
for Punjab and India Under 19s and the World Cup
2000 boosted him to go the first step towards
chasing his dream.
The captain who kick started it all for him was
Sourav Ganguly. Getting a look in to
International cricket is always a challenge,
especially for teenagers. Life does change in a
matter of a few minutes that one spends in the
middle of a vast green field surrounded by half
a lakh people and millions watching glued to
their television sets.
His ODI debut came about in the ODI against
Kenya in the ICC Knockout in Kenya, which India
easily made it through. His fellow debutants
were Vijay Dahiya and Zaheer Khan. December 12
is Yuvraj’s actual birthday, but he would have
rather had celebrated it on Oct 7, 2000, when
his first ODI innings came about. A big occasion
deserves a big innings, and Yuvraj learnt that
lesson right away. Number five is not the best
place to make one’s first batting stint, but
Yuvraj found his groove very quickly much to the
chagrin of the Australian bowlers. Coming in
with the side in a spot of bother, this Punjabi
lad immediately started middling the ball
fluently, his on side play was particularly very
good indeed. The wristy flicks, and the on
drives made our cricket crazy country go even
wilder as India won thanks to a blistering knock
of 84 by this newcomer against the very best!
That bowling line up which boasted of McGrath,
Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie was made to eat
humble pie and looked more like club players
when Yuvraj stamped his essay. A dream debut
with the bat indeed!
That was the highest individual score for an
Indian first timer! Commendable job, that!
Good scores follow good players, but one must
say that Yuvraj has been patchy in his career so
far. The match winning knocks are aplenty, as
has been the innings in the tougher conditions;
this Chandigarh born lad has shown maturity when
it matters. Keeping a cool head under murky
conditions when the team needs a life saver, he
comes in and knocks the ball around and very
soon he is en route to a solid knock. That’s
typical Yuvraj for you! I distinctly remember an
ODI in Colombo on Aug 1st 2001, at the SSC, when
India batting first were 4-38; Yuvraj stepped in
that time. With some able support from Dravid
and little from the others except Reetinder
Singh Sodhi, he got a valuable 98* off 110 balls
even as Murali dictated terms with the Indian
batsmen. India won the match with some spirited
bowling. Sadly he missed what was a deserved
hundred.
His first ODI century eventually came around in
Bangladesh, the game where Avishkar Salvi and
Gautam Gambhir made their ODI debuts against
Bangladesh in April 2003, being a brisk innings
off 85 balls bringing joy to the faces of many
Indian fans.
And who will forget his knock in the Natwest
trophy on July 13, 2002 and his partnership with
Mohammed Kaif when the chips were down and India
looked lost. That is only a leaf out of his many
good knocks for India. That was special for the
sheer pleasure that the truth of the youth of
the nation as its destined Rulers came to the
Fore.
His test debut was more debated as he was
considered more a Bevan rather than a Hayden.
His ODI success always pushed the Indian
selectors to give him a chance at the test level
and it finally cracked; his test debut was
against New Zealand in October 2003, but a dull
dour 20 and a 5* wasn’t what one would have
expected of him on test debut.
He did get a super century recently against
Pakistan at Lahore off just 110 balls when the
side was in trouble at 94-4 and proved he wasn’t
just ODI material as the selectors thought.
He has opened the test match batting for India
when India were in a dearth for openers, did not
do much with the bat. His weakness against the
moving ball has had him time and again. Also he
is troubled by the spin bowlers. Some aspects he
needs to really ponder over when he works over
his weaknesses.
Something that he has been working on, but
really that was a major blot in otherwise what
is a tremendous career so far, with over 2500
runs in ODIs at a decent average of 29.80, with
2 centuries. But his strike rate of over 85 and
his match winning knocks and his slog overs
hitting make this man a dangerous customer for
the opposition.
His left arm orthodox has been quite well used
by Sourav Ganguly, though Yuvraj’s bowling
options are limited to bowling simple without
the normal flourish or the variations, he has a
best bowling of 4-6, something which any bowler
can be proud of! He dons the role of odd
partnership breaker or a bowler to squeeze runs
in small spells, which is the Mantra of ODI
cricket anyway.
His batting is quite outstanding, with the
flashy blades and the swishes here and there,
laced with the sweetest of shots through the
field placing, piercing many a strategy of the
opposition captains. He is someone who has his
own way and really princely manner of dealing
with things. With the occasional problem against
the short pitched delivery and the good ones
outside off stump, he still looks batting look
good out there in the middle. That is vintage
Yuvraj for anyone watching!
Yuvraj Singh is a name synonymous with good
fielding apart from good clean hitting. Not to
mention some stunning catches! Always a tiger on
the field, always ready to dive around not
caring for a clean pair of shirt or trousers,
this lad along with Mohammad Kaif are the young
guns to lead India into the Mini World Cup 2002
Finals and also the World Cup 2003 Finals.
Photos of his catch in those games are
memorabilia worth having by any cricket fan!
He has also represented Yorkshire in 2003-04
following his idol, Sachin Tendulkar, who also
played for Yorkshire. But like Sachin, Yuvraj
might have thought of reserving his runs for
India rather than Yorkshire.
Fitness and good technique are the key to a
youngster and Yuvraj seems to have both of that.
Now all that remains is Yuvraj making runs
consistently against all attacks. Also the
batting against quality attacks, especially
spinners has to be worked upon extensively for
Yuvraj to be in International cricket for a long
period of time.
Well, knowing how competitive this young man is,
and knowing his desire to give nothing but the
best for the Team, one is sure that he will be a
world beater and a famous son of India by the
time he hangs up his shoes from cricket! Cheers
for this brave new hero to herald the goodwill
that he has earned thus far!
We at Cricketfundas.com wish this ever cheerful
and most active cricketer on the field to wage
and win more battles and complete his dream on a
wonderful note.
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