Under the SKanner: Yuvraj Singh

ICC World T20, 2007: India vs Australia

The relatively inexperienced and young Indian side led by MS Dhoni took on the mighty Australians in the first semifinal of the inaugural World T20 held in South Africa in 2007. India got off to a decent, but slow start with 30 runs in the first 5 overs.

However, Mitchell Johnson ripped through the top order and India were soon struggling at 48-2 in 9 overs. Things looked extremely bleak for Dhoni’s men as they were staring at the exit gate. However, the man in form, the man who smashed Stuart Broad for six sixes in a row had some other ideas in mind. With an intent to attack right from the beginning, Yuvraj Singh ripped apart the opposition bowling line-up and made them look like an amateur set up.

At a strike rate of 233.33, Yuvraj scored a blistering knock of 70 with 5 fours and 5 sixes to his name which helped India reach a total of 188 in 20 overs. From a run-rate of less than 10 runs per over, Yuvraj single-handedly ensured the run-rate climb to over 9 runs per over.

The brilliance in the batting department was followed up by a breathtaking bowling display by Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh which helped India reach the final where they eventually defeated Pakistan to lift the World Cup.

As Yuvraj gets ready to take part in his 5^th Champions Trophy, he remains the only cricketer who played in the 2000 edition of the tournament to be playing in 2017 as well.

One of the most enigmatic, entertaining and hard working batsmen India has ever seen, Yuvraj continues to shine bright for the Men in Blue. It has been 17 years since he made his debut for India having done so in the same tournament in 2000.

He has proved to be one of the biggest match winners for India and has single-handedly taken India to numerous victories over the years. He is known to perform well under pressure and has performed on the biggest of stages. However, given his age and the fact that a lot of youngsters are coming into the fray, Yuvi’s days are numbered and the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 might just be his last ICC tournament.

Here, we take a look at his strengths and weaknesses ahead of India’s first match against arch-rivals Pakistan in the Champions Trophy.

Strengths

Pick up shots agaisnt full deliveries: Ever since his debut in international cricket, Yuvraj has always punished those deliveries bowled full, onto the pads by just picking it up and lifting it over the fielders for a four or a six, with his high backlift. We have seen him do it time and again and it has been a go-to shot for the 35-year-old on numerous occasions in his illustrious career.

He used the shot to perfection in the recently concluded Indian Premier League 2017 with the Sunrisers Hyderabad. His pick up shot against the even won the Vitara Brezza Glam Shot of the tournament.

Slog Sweep: One of his biggest strengths and a shot which has worked wonders for him over the years is the slog sweep. Kneeling down on one knee and smashing the ball over the square-leg or deep mid-wicket region is one of the most common sights for any Indian cricket team fan when Yuvraj is out in the middle. He loves to particularly target spinners while playing this shot.

Driving through the covers: Yuvraj uses this shot mainly at the beginning of his innings and against fast bowlers. Any ball bowled at a good length or full on his legs, Yuvraj, again with a high backlift swats it through the cover region, either on the front foot or back foot. A perfect textbook shot.

Temperament: Time and again, Yuvraj has proved to be one of the biggest fighters of world cricket. He has been dropped from the side on many occasions but has always fought his way back and proved himself.

As we all know, he fought the biggest battle of his life when he was diagnosed with cancer shortly after the 2011 world cup and battled it successfully to make a comeback in 2012. As mentioned previously, he has always performed well under pressure and on the biggest of stages.

Weaknesses

Slower delivery outside the off-stump: As mentioned above, Yuvraj loves driving the ball through the covers for a boundary. However, at times his strength turns into a weakness when he receives a slow ball outside the off-stump. Standing at his crease, Yuvraj tends to stick out his bat to slower deliveries thus leading to his dismissal.

Slow tracks: Slow pitches have sort of become a trend in India during Tests and the spinners have always made the most of such pitches. Unfortunately, Yuvraj has never been comfortable on such pitches and has always struggled against the turning ball.

He tends to poke his bat out on deliveries on the full and ends up edging it to the keeper or the slip cordon. He also takes an extremely long time to settle down on such pitches.

Short deliveries to his head: India have always had issues against the short deliveries. Opposition bowlers always use the short delivery as their go-to delivery against most of the Indian batsmen. Yuvraj, too, has struggled against those deliveries which are targetted at his helmet.

He finds it hard to get a hold of such deliveries and ends up top edging the ball on most occasions and ends up giving an easy catch to get dismissed.