Yuvraj Singh – the Crown Prince of Indian Cricket

(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 Saurav 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 kncok 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 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 Chandigrah 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 to boot.

His left arm orthodox has been quite well used by Saurav 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 Mohammed 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.

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!

I 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.