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Champions Trophy: Yuvraj Singh announces arrival with swashbuckling 84 against Australia, coupled with outstanding fielding

On October 7, 2000, Yuvraj Singh scored 84 off 80 deliveries in his first international innings. His composure, temperament and technique stood out. He had Australia at their wits’ end with his dazzling strokeplay. His fielding also made the difference in the final analysis. Sarang Bhalerao revisits the birth of a superstar.

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Champions Trophy: Yuvraj Singh announces arrival with swashbuckling 84 against Australia, coupled with outstanding fielding

Yuvraj Singh missed his ton by 16 runs, but his 80-ball foray had put the Australians on the backfoot © AFP

On October 7, 2000, Yuvraj Singh scored 84 off 80 deliveries in his first international innings. His composure, temperament and technique stood out. He had Australia at their wits’ end with his dazzling strokeplay. His fielding also made the difference in the final analysis. Sarang Bhalerao revisits the birth of a superstar.

The Nairobi scoreboard told a familiar tale. India, it seemed, had squandered a superb start after Sachin Tendulkar smashed Glenn McGrath for three huge sixes. In half an hour, India lost Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. At 90 for three in the 19th over, India seemed to have lost the plot. Enter Yuvraj Singh and the equation would change; or history, if you may say.

Playing in only his second One-Day international (ODI), the southpaw, who had an upright stance, exuded confidence with his high backlift and sublime timing. Ian Harvey tested Yuvraj with a short delivery. The Indian batsmen are traditionally less confident players when it comes to horizontal-bat shots. And playing in his first innings Yuvraj would have had some butterflies in his stomach. But the moment he saw the short ball his eyes popped out like an upstart’s when he sees his favourite candy. The ball was pulled contemptuously behind square for a boundary.

Yuvraj was ready to fight fire with fire: that was the best policy against the much-vaunted pace battery of Australia. He was ready to take on the attack, as that was his natural game. At that time Yuvraj’s resume boasted of an Under-19 World Cup and numerous compelling innings, albeit played at junior level, and some for Punjab. The style of batting remained the same at Nairobi as well.

He glanced Jason Gillespie fine for a boundary, as if to suggest that finesse was his ally as well. Steve Waugh’s military-medium bowling had accounted for Vinod Kambli. Waugh was taking the pace of the ball. Yuvraj took him off the attack by lifting him over mid-on for a boundary. The promising innings was taking India from safety shores to a position of strength. He brought up his half-century with a punch down the ground off Glenn McGrath, which went for a boundary. The youngster punched the air. Yet there was a lot of fire within him. That, according to him, was just a milestone. More was to follow.

Yuvraj played an exquisite cover drive off Gillespie which rocketed to the boundary. The audacious stroke play was an exhibition in batting. Yuvraj missed his ton by 16 runs, but his 80-ball foray had put the Australians on the backfoot.

In the field, Yuvraj made a difference as well. He dived full length to his left (his natural side) and held on to Harvey’s mistimed cover-drive. It was a snorter. The Indian fielding standard was abysmal at the time. To see something like a swimming pool dive from Yuvraj was a refreshing change.

In the middle overs, Michael Bevan was guiding Australia towards the target. He hit a delivery to mid-off and attempted a single. But the fielder stationed there was Yuvraj. He was quick as lightning, unlike almost every other fielder. Bevan misjudged the run; the ball went straight to Yuvraj and he hit the stumps directly. Bevan was short of his ground and after his dismissal Australians fell behind the eight-ball.

Another youngster, Zaheer Khan, bowled yorkers at will in the end overs. Australia were to be outclassed. Yuvraj had announced his arrival at the international circuit. In the coming years he became the lynchpin of Indian batting. Talking about this young lad, Steve Waugh said, “He [Yuvraj] kept the composure of the side going and he saw them basically through to the end so it was a match-winning innings.”

Yuvraj’s terse response was, “I am happy.” It was an uncomplicated statement, as was his batting. A star was just born.

Brief scores:

India 265 for 9 in 50 overs (Yuvraj Singh 84, Sachin Tendulkar 38; Shane Lee 2 for 31) beat Australia 245 in 46.4 overs (Ricky Ponting 46, Michael Bevan 42; Zaheer Khan 2 for 40) by 20 runs.

(Sarang Bhalerao hails from a family of doctors, but did his engineering. He then dumped a career in IT with Infosys to follow his heart and passion and became a writer with CricketCountry. A voracious reader, Sarang aspires to beat Google with his knowledge of the game! You can follow him on Twitter here)

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