Back in September 2007, Stuart Broad would’ve never imagined what he was running into. India were facing England in the Super Eight game in the 2007 World T20. After a good start from Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh got going and struck a couple of fluent boundaries. However, Yuvraj Singh got into a heated argument with England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff who had bowled the 18th over.
The Punjab southpaw looked fiery after the fight and he vented all of it on Broad. In fact, Yuvraj was himself hit for five sixes only a month ago by Dmitri Mascarenhas in an ODI in England. And he was out to avenge it.
It was only in the 17th over that Yuvraj walked out to bat. Skipper MS Dhoni was already at the crease and was batting on five. Yuvraj stole all the limelight. He started off with a boundary through the covers off Chris Tremlett and got off the mark in style. The over that followed after was unbelievable as Yuvraj went berserk.
Broad bowled the 19th over of the Indian innings and it didn’t matter where he bowled or from where he bowled (over or around the wicket). Yuvraj just tore him apart and got stuck to him. Yuvraj sent each of the six balls sailing into the Kingsmead (Durban) stands. The first one was over mid-wicket, second over square, third over point, fourth over long-off, fifth over square leg again before finishing with one over cow-corner. He became the first player in T20 internationals to hit six sixes.
Coming in to bat at No. 5, Yuvraj demolished the England attack as he scored a 16-ball 58 which included three fours and seven sixes and helped India get to 218 in their 20 overs. He was awarded the Player of the Match for his blistering knock as he helped the ‘Men in Blue’ record an 18-run win.
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Unknown Facts about Yuvraj Singh’s Six Sixes
aj became only the fourth player in the history of the game to hit six sixes in an over. Sir Gary Sobers and Ravi Shastri did it in first-class games, while Herschelle Gibbs scaled the feat in an ODI. The left-handed all-rounder became the first player to record six sixes in an over in T20 cricket. In fact, he was just the second player to scale the feat in international cricket after Gibbs.
During his knock, Yuvraj reached it in a mere 12 balls. It was the fastest fifty in the history of international cricket and that is still a record. Today, Yuvraj Singh’s strike rate of 362.50 is the fourth-highest ever in the history of T20 internationals (a minimum of 25 runs). He became only the second Indian after Ravi Shastri to hit six sixes in an over in the history of the game. It was the first and only time that two players hit six sixes in the same calendar year. Gibbs was the first to hit six sixes in 2007 and he did it in the 2007 World Cup with Yuvraj later replicating the feat. Moreover, Yuvraj was the second player to achieve the record in an ICC World event and it was Gibbs who was the first to the feat.
The 36 runs Yuvraj accumulated in the over against Broad isn’t the most in a T20 game. Chris Gayle pummeled 37 runs against Prashant Parmeshwaran in the 2011 season of the IPL, while Scott Styris hammered James Fuller for 38 runs in a T20 Blast game in 2012. In fact, it isn’t even an Indian record as Hardik Pandya smashed 39 runs in an over against Akash Sudan in the 2016 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Yuvraj Singh AYuvraj Singh After 6 Sixes in 6 Balls
rkable performance against England, Yuvraj sat out of India’s last Super Eight game against South Africa. However, Yuvraj came back with a bang against Australia in the semifinal as he smashed 70 off 30 balls, driving India into the final of the 2007 World T20. The Punjab-born cricketer continued to be a vital part of India’s middle order in white-ball cricket. After his exploits in the World T20 in 2007, Yuvraj went on to win the Player of the Tournament award in the 2011 World Cup. He scored 362 runs which included four fifties and a hundred and took 15 wickets along with winning four Man of the Match awards and drove India to the World Cup title.
However, soon after the 2011 World Cup triumph, Yuvraj was diagnosed with cancer and he was out of the game for more than a year. He did make a comeback but he wasn’t the same since. He was constantly in and out of the national side until March 2014. He was even drafted into the Test side for a brief period but things didn’t work out.
The left-hander made a comeback in the T20 format in early 2016 and played the World T20 at home before falling out of favour again. In ODI cricket, he was back in the mix in January 2017 and even recorded his highest ODI score of 150 against England as he rolled back the clock and looked in great shape. Moreover, he even played the 2017 Champions Trophy and scored a fifty in the opening game for India. However, fitness, form and consistency became an issue and the end was near for one of India’s greatest match-winners. In June 2017, Yuvraj put on the Indian jersey for the last time. That was an ODI against the West Indies.
Yuvraj continued to play in the IPL for a couple of more seasons. He even played domestic cricket. However, he didn’t really get back to his best and was ignored for the 2019 World Cup. Hence, the left-handed all-rounder from Punjab announced his retirement from all forms of the game last year in June. Yuvraj finished with 11778 runs in international cricket which included 17 hundreds. He even took 148 wickets across the three formats.