Yuvraj Singh was born on 12th of December, 1981 to Shabnam and Yograj Singh: former Indian bowler. An aggressive left hand batsman and slow left arm bowler.
With his quick reflexes, stunning catches and impeccable fielding, he's an all-rounder in true sense.
Baby steps
He trained under his dad from a very age under strict restrictions. At a tender age of 13 he made into the Punjab Under-16 squad and later got into Punjab Under-19. He made his first class debut in the year 1997.
His first breakthrough performance came against Sri Lanka Under-19 with a brisk 89 off 55 balls.
He was a part of the India Under-19 team which was victorious at the 2000 U-19 World Cup. Yuvraj Singh was adjudged the Man of the Tournament for his brilliant all-round effort.
His valiant performance made him earn his international cap in the year 2000.
Revival
After being dropped due to lack of runs in 2001 and 2002, Yuvraj made his place in the team with two quick fires against Zimbabwe to seal series on the same year.
Going into the NatWest series of 2002, he scored a 19 ball 40 in a rain washed game. He along with Mohammed Kaif stabilized the innings chase of final where India scored 146 at the loss of 5 wickets. The duo added 121 runs for the wicket which ensured the finals win. He scored 69 (63) before getting caught to Paul Collingwood. This final still remains the best ODI chase till date.
He scored his maiden ODI century against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2003 after three years of debut. He was signed up Yorkshire club in the year 2003 and became only the second Indian player after Sachin to play county cricket then.
He made his test debut later in the same year (2003) against New Zealand.
Pinnacle
After his multifarious performance, he was appointed as the deputy of MS Dhoni for the 2007 World T20. The awe struck moment arrived when he hit Stuart broad for 6 sixes in an overall in different directions. He helped India reach finals with a 70 off 30 balls against mighty Aussies.
His golden period still did not end even after few drop outs. His dream run came in the 2011 ICC World Cup where he won the Man of the Tournament award for his match winning innings scoring above 300 runs and picking up 15 wickets.
He represented Kings XI Punjab for the first two seasons of the Indian Premier League and later on for Pune Warriors(11-13)before being bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore(2014) for a whopping 14 crores who was later bought by Delhi Daredevils(2015) for 16 crores.
Downfalls
Yuvraj Singh was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor. It was evident during the World Cup of 2011 which included blood vomitings.
Recovering from chemotherapy done in USA, he couldn't be the same lightning and athletic fielder he was. With few very good knocks post surgery, he still couldn't find place in the team due to fitness issues.
Career in Numbers
He represented India 304 times till date in the ODIs scoring 8701 runs at an average of 36. He scored 14 centuries and has a healthy strike rate of 87.
His last ODI match was in June 2017 against the West Indies team.
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