Yuvraj Singh
Yuvraj Singh (born 12 December 1981) is an Indian international cricketer, an all-rounder who bats left-handed in the middle order and bowls slow left-arm orthodox. He is the son of former Indian fast bowler and Punjabi actor Yograj Singh. Yuvraj has been a member of the Indian cricket team in ODIs since October 2000 and played his first Test match in October 2003. He was the vice-captain of the Indian ODI team between 2007-2008. He was the Man of the Tournament in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, and one of the top performers at the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, both of which India won. 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 Test cricket teams. He holds the record for the fastest fifty in Twenty20 Internationals and in all Twenty20 matches, scoring 50 runs in 12 balls against England in 2007.
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.
Yuvraj was conferred with the Arjuna Award, India’s second highest sporting award, in the year 2012 by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee. In 2014, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honour. In 2014, Royal Challengers Bangalore bought Yuvraj for an all-time high price of 14 crore rupees at the IPL Auction 2014 and in 2015, Delhi Daredevils bought him for 16 crore rupees at the IPL Auction 2015 making him the most expensive player to be sold in the IPL. In 2016 IPL auction he was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for 7 crore rupees.
Early years and personal life:
Yuvraj was born in a Punjabi Sikh Jatt family to Yograj Singh, a former India cricketer, and Shabnam Singh. Tennis and roller skating were Yuvraj’s favorite 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.
Yuvraj studied at the DAV Public School in Chandigarh. He also did two short roles as child star in Mehndi Sagna Di and Putt Sardara. After his parents divorced, Yuvraj chose to stay with his mother.
On 12 November 2015, Yuvraj got engaged to Hazel Keech and married her on 30th November 2016.
Career statistics:
Test
Matches: 40
Runs scored: 1900
100s/50s: 3/11
Top score: 169
ODI
Matches: 293
Runs scored: 8329
100s/50s: 13/51
Top score: 139
Achievements:
In a 2007 ICC World Twenty20 match, he hit six sixes in a single over.
He became the first all-rounder to score 300 plus runs and to take 15 wickets in a single World Cup.
He was the Man of the Tournament in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.
He was awarded with the Arjuna Award (India’s second highest, Sporting Award) in 2012 by the President of India.
In 2014, he was awarded with the Padma Shri Award.
In February 2014, he was honored with FICCI Most Inspiring Sportsperson of the Year Award.
Outside cricket:
Charity and commercial interests:
Singh shooting for Ulysse Nardin watches as Ambassador.
Yuvraj was signed by Microsoft to be a brand ambassador for the Xbox 360 video game console when it was launched in India in 2006. He appeared in advertisements for the console alongside Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar. Codemasters’ cricket video game Brian Lara International Cricket 2007 was released with his endorsement in India, titled “Yuvraj Singh International Cricket 2007”.The Bollywood animated film, Jumbo features cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s voice therefore starting his career in Bollywood. The upcoming animated full-length feature film Captain India features Yuvraj Singh as the main protagonist.
Yuvraj has also been involved in sports based e-commerce; he is a brand ambassador of sports365.in, an online store focused on selling sports goods and fitness equipment. Yuvraj is also the brand ambassador for the sports brand Puma. He was appointed as the brand ambassador of Ulysse Nardin watch in 2013.
Yuvraj’s charity YouWeCan has treated over hundreds of cancer patients. In April 2015, he announced the intention to invest INR 40-50 crores in online startups, expanding the YouWeCan proposition by setting up YouWeCan Ventures in order to do so.[94] Yuvraj Singh also participated in the Celebrity Clásico 2016 which was played with an objective to generate funds for charitable initiatives.
