CRICKETERS OF INDIA – YUVRAJ SINGH
INDIAN CRICKETER – YUVRAJ SINGH BHANDAL
Yuvraj Singh Bhandal, (born 12 December 1981 to a Jatt Sikh family) is an Indian cricketer, and the son of former Indian fast bowler and Punjabi movie star Yograj Singh. He has been a member of the Indian cricket team since 2000 (ODIs) and played his first Test match in 2003. He was the vice captain of the ODI team from late-2007 to late-2008. At the 2007 World Twenty20 he hit six sixes in an over against England’s Stuart Broad—a feat performed only three times previously in any form of senior cricket, and previously never in an international match between two Test cricket nations. He was named the Man of the Tournament in the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
Yuvraj first came to attention when he captained the U-19 Punjab cricket team in the final of the Cooch-Behar Trophy against Bihar U-19s, in which he scored 358 at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur. He then gained selection for the U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in January 2000, where he was part of a team led by Mohammed Kaif which won the tournament. Yuvraj was subsequently selected in 2000 for the first intake of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.
Yuvraj is primarily a left-handed batsman but can bowl part-time left-arm orthodox spin. He is regarded as being better at batting against fast bowling than spin bowling, and cites the Indian Oil Cup 2005 as a turning point in his career. He is one of the better fielders in the Indian team, fielding primarily at point, with a good aim at the stumps. A Cricinfo report published in late 2005 showed that since 1999, he was the fourth most prolific fielder in affecting ODI run outs, and of those on the list of prolific fielders, he had the second highest rate of effecting a run out. He was previously often characterised as having attitude problems, but later often assumed leadership positions during Rahul Dravid’s tenure as captain.
