Eight years after he prevented cancer from dictating his life choices, a tearful Yuvraj Singh Monday brought the curtains down on a roller-coaster international career, the pinnacle of which was his exploits in India’s 2011 World Cup triumph.
Tall, willowy and ethereal, his unlimited talent andcharisma made him a limited overs legend, but he will walk into the sunsetfeeling he has not done enough in Tests.
The Punjabi southpaw, though, tried repeatedly to turn backtime before calling it quits.
“After 25 years, in and around 22 yards, and afteralmost 17 years of international cricket on and off, I have decided to move on.Cricket has given me everything and is the reason why I stand here today,”the 37-year-old said addressing the media in the extravagant interiors of astar hotel that quite resembled his flamboyant batting.
“I was extremely lucky to play 400 games for India. Icould have never imagined it when I first started playing cricket,” headded.
The explosive batter said he now wants to “enjoylife” and pursue a freelance career in T20 leagues internationally,pending BCCI permission. But he will no longer be seen in the Indian PremierLeague.
Yuvraj played 40 Tests, 304 ODIs and 58 T20Is for India. Heput together 1900 runs in the longest format, and 8701 in the one-dayers, theformat in which he enjoyed most success. His one-day runs tally places him 22ndin the overall list, and seventh among Indians.
A useful left-arm spinner, Yuvraj picked up 111 ODI wicketsat an average of 36.55.
“It was a love-hate relationship with this game. Ican’t explain what it really means to me. This game taught me how to fight, howto fall, to dust myself off and get up again and move forward,” he said.
“I have failed more times than I have succeeded, but Inever gave up, and will never give up, till my last breath, and that’s whatcricket has taught me. I gave my blood and sweat to the game once I got on toit, especially when it came to representing my country,” he added.
The attacking left-hander listed the the 2011 World Cuptriumph, being Man of the Tournament in the showpiece, getting six sixes in anover against England in the inaugural 2007 World T20 and his first Testhundred, against Pakistan in Lahore in 2004, as the most special moments of hisinternational career that twisted this way and that through 17 years.
The battle with cancer soon after the 2011 World Cup triumphwas perhaps the biggest challenge that he encountered.
“I was not going to let that disease defeat me,”he said.
However, his cricketing form had been on the wane for awhile. Yuvraj last played for India in a T20I against England in 2017. His lastTest appearance was back in 2012.
He turned up for Mumbai Indians in this year’s IPL butdidn’t get many chances.
His exploits at the World T20 in South Africa have remaineduntouched till date.
Yuvraj’s willow-wielding ways gave nightmares to almostevery bowler through the tournament.
Clobbering six sixes in the penultimate over bowled by StuartBroad in Kingsmead was a moment not many cricket fans will forget.
That performance against England took Yuvraj on top of thepile of fastest fifties in a T20I match, scoring 50 in just 12 balls, a recordthat has stood the test of time.
As time passed, Yuvraj became an established middle-orderlinchpin for the Indian team, and a man with a golden arm too.
A testimony of his accomplished all-round abilities was the2011 50-over World Cup where Yuvraj became the first all-rounder to score300-plus runs and take 15 wickets in a single World Cup.
The feat included four MoM awards and Man-Of-The-Tournamentfor the 362 runs and 15 wickets.
“Winning the 2011 World Cup, being man of the series,four MoM awards was all like a dream, which was followed with a harsh realityof getting diagnosed with cancer,” reminisced Yuvraj.
“All this happened so quickly and that too when I wasat the peak of my career. It was like touching the sky and then falling down atlight speed and hitting the ground hard. All this happened so quickly,” hesaid.
“I can’t possibly explain the support of my family andfriends who stood by me, like my pillars of strength and courage,” addedan emotional Yuvraj.
He rated Sourav Ganguly, under whom he flourished, andMahendra Singh Dhoni as his favourite captains and picked Sri Lankan spinwizard Muttiah Muralitharan and Australian pace great Glenn McGrath as thetoughest bowlers he faced in his career.
Yuvraj, a fighter to the core even off the field, battledall odds to return to cricket after being successfully cured of a rare germcell tumour in the United States .
“This was probably the most difficult time in mycricket career, then the 2014 T20 World Cup final against Sri Lanka when Ilaboured to 11 off 21 balls. It was so shattering that I felt my career was allbut over, everyone wrote me off too. But I never stopped believing inmyself,” remarked Yuvraj.”I felt most pressurised when I was makinga comeback after having recovered from cancer because that was the time wheneveryone thought that I may not be the same player again and I had to provethem wrong,” he said.