Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh (born 12 December 1981) is a former Indian international cricketer who played in all formats of the game.

He is an all-rounder who batted left-handed in the middle order and bowled slow left-arm orthodox.

He has won 7 Player of the Series awards in ODI cricket, which is joint 3rd highest by an Indian, shared with former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly.

He is also the son of former Indian fast bowler and Punjabi actor Yograj Singh.

Yuvraj began his career with Punjab Under-16s at the age of 13 years and 11 months in November of the 1995–96 season against Jammu and Kashmir-16s.

In 1996–97, Yuvraj was promoted to Punjab Under-19s and scored 137 not out against Himachal Pradesh Under-19s.

Yuvraj made his first-class debut in late-1997 against Orissa during the 1997–98 Ranji Trophy but was dismissed for a duck opening the innings.

His first break-out performance came in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy Final of 1999 against Bihar at Jamshedpur; Bihar was all out with a score of 357 and Yuvraj batted at three for Punjab and made 358 runs himself.

Yuvraj represented India in the series against Sri Lanka Under-19s in India in February 1999.

In the third ODI, Yuvraj scored 89 runs from 55 balls.

In 1999-2000 Ranji Trophy, he scored 149 against Haryana.

Yuvraj was a member of the Indian cricket team in One Day Internationals (ODIs) between 2000 and 2017 and played his first Test match in October 2003.

He was the vice-captain of the Indian ODI team between 2007 and 2008.

In a match against England at the 2007 World Twenty20, he famously hit six sixes in one over bowled by Stuart Broad — a feat performed only three times previously in any form of senior cricket, and never in an international match between two teams with Test match status.

In the same match, he set the record for the fastest fifty in Twenty20 Internationals and in all T20 cricket, reaching 50 runs in 12 balls, which was a record for fastest half century in International cricket, until it was broken by Dipendra Airee during 2023 Asian Games but Singh still holds the record in the ICC Cricket World Cup and among ICC full member nations.

During the 2011 World Cup, he became the first player to take a 5-wicket haul and score a 50 in the same World Cup match.

During the 2011 World Cup, Yuvraj Singh played eight innings in nine matches and scored 362 runs with a remarkable average of 90.50.

He also took 15 wickets in the tournament, maintaining an economy rate of 5.02.

In 2011, Yuvraj was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his left lung and underwent chemotherapy treatment in Boston and Indianapolis.

In March 2012, he was discharged from the hospital after completing the third and final cycle of chemotherapy and returned to India in April.

He made his international comeback in a Twenty20 match in September against New Zealand shortly before the 2012 World Twenty20.

In 2012, Yuvraj was conferred with the Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting award by the Government of India.

In 2014, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour.

At the 2014 IPL auction Royal Challengers Bangalore bought Yuvraj for an all-time high price of ₹14 crore and, in 2015, the Delhi Daredevils bought him for ₹16 crore making him the second most expensive player ever to be sold in the IPL until Chris Morris was sold to the Rajasthan Royals for a record ₹16.25 crore in February 2021.

In February 2014, he was honoured with FICCI Most Inspiring Sportsperson of the Year Award.

On 12 November 2015, Singh got engaged to British actress Hazel Keech and married her on 30 November 2016.

In February 2021, he purchased a luxury pent-house in Chattarpur, South Delhi.

The couple had their first child, a boy named Orion, on 25 January 2022.

Their second child, a girl named Aura, was born on 25 August 2023.

He last represented India in June 2017, against the West Indies.

His request for a return to domestic cricket and IPL was turned down by BCCI for participating in Global T20 League in Canada and T10 league.

Yuvraj Singh was born in a Punjabi Sikh family to Yograj Singh, a former India cricketer, and Shabnam Singh.

Tennis and roller skating were Yuvraj's favourite sports during his childhood and he was quite good at both.

He had also won the National Under-14 Roller Skating Championship.

His father threw away the medal and told him to forget skating and concentrate on cricket.

He would take Yuvraj to training every day.

Singh studied at the DAV Public School in Chandigarh.

He completed his graduation degree in commerce from DAV College, Panjab University, Chandigarh.

He also did two short roles as child star in Mehndi Sagna Di and Putt Sardara.

On 10 June 2019, Yuvraj announced his retirement from all forms of International cricket.