"There was no angst, no taunt" - When Sanjay Manjrekar hailed Yuvraj Singh over a sporting gesture

Former Team India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh is often hailed for his exploits in the World Cup. The ex-international cricketer slammed six sixes in an over off Stuart Broad during India's 2007 T20 World Cup-winning campaign. He was the Player of the Tournament for his stellar all-round show as the Men in Blue lifted the 50-over World Cup in India under MS Dhoni's leadership in 2011.

While Yuvraj is mostly remembered for his on-field heroics, during an interaction with Sportskeeda on the special show 'SK Tales' back in March 2021, Sanjay Manjrekar shed light on a different aspect of the cricketer. The former India batter-turned-commentator recalled how Yuvraj sportingly responded to his criticism and did not show any signs of displeasure.

Following his battle with cancer, Yuvraj famously made a comeback to the Indian team during the 2012 T20 World Cup. While the southpaw's return was hailed by most experts and fans, Manjrekar was critical of the decision as he felt it was more emotion-based than cricket-related.

As fate would have it, Yuvraj came up with a Player of the Match performance in one of the games, and it was none other than Manjrekar who had to interview him. The former India all-rounder was, however, very graceful during the interaction and ended up winning Manjrekar's heart. The latter recalled:

“I was doing the post-match presentation. I was a bit tense. I thought he would be a bit unhappy with me. When I announced him as the Man of the Match, he was walking towards me with a smile. And then I told him that 'there have been some people who felt you should not have been part of this team'.”

To this, Yuvraj cheekily replied:

“Yes sir, I have heard some people talk about it.”

Manjrekar then continued the story and added:

“And he smiled at me. I’ll never forget that. It was so sporting of him. The way he smiled back, completely understanding how the dynamics work. There was no angst, no taunt. He did a beautiful interview with me. After than I have had so much respect for this man, Yuvraj Singh.”

Yuvraj scored 66 runs in four innings in the 2012 T20 World Cup at a strike rate of 108.19. With his left-arm spin, he claimed eight wickets at an average of 10.12 and an economy rate of 5.92, with a best of 3-24.

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Yuvraj is among India's top 10 run-getters in ODI cricket

While Yuvraj represented India in all three formats of the game, he tasted most success in the one-day format. The southpaw represented the Men in Blue in 301 ODI matches and amassed 8,609 runs at an average of 36.47 and a strike rate of 87.43, with 14 hundreds and 52 half-centuries. He is currently eighth on the list of batters with most runs for India in ODIs.

The 43-year-old was also a more than handy left-arm spinner. He picked up 110 wickets at an average of 38.42 and an economy rate of 5.08, with two fours-fers and one five-fer.