Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh is celebrating the sixth anniversary of his career-best performance in ODI cricket. Yuvraj, 41, took to social media platform Twitter to upload a throwback post of him scoring a match-winning 150 (127) against England in Cuttack.
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The match is fondly remembered for an incredible comeback registered by Yuvraj and former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni after uniting in the middle in only the fifth over. With India losing their top-order cheaply, the two stalwarts joined hands for a 256-run fourth-wicket partnership.
It was on this day in 2017 when Yuvraj and Dhoni hit a combined total of 31 fours and nine sixes in an entertaining display of batting. Both the batters batting at a strike rate of >100 had powered the home team to 381/6 in 50 overs.
ALSO WATCH: Yuvraj Singh reminisces hitting six sixes in an over with son Orion Keech Singh
Although India won the match by only 15 runs in a high-scoring contest to gain an unassailable 2-0 lead in a three-match series, Yuvraj and Dhoni had sure rewound the clock to their younger days. The duo was used to stitch similar game-changing partnerships out of nowhere back in the day.
Yuvraj Singh considers 150 vs England as best innings for India
Having last scored an international century in 2011 and considering all that had happened in his life post the Cricket World Cup that year, Yuvraj posting a career-best performance in what was his last international comeback was a statement in itself. It is worth a mention that the knock had come in only his second match after being on the sidelines for almost 10 months post ICC World Twenty20 2016.
Yuvraj, who was 35 at the time, had admitted to diet and fitness being vital for a cricketer after he turns 30. Considering the same to be his best innings for India, Yuvraj had thrown light on achieving a target which he had set for himself.
“It’s probably my best innings. I started as a lower-order batsman, the higher you bat the more balls you get to play – 150 was a target for me. I wanted to prove a point to myself. I knew it was coming,” Yuvraj was quoted as saying by Star Sports during the post-match presentation ceremony back then.
Yuvraj, who started as a lower middle-order batter for India, batted the most at No. 4 in this format. In 108 innings at this position, Yuvraj’s 3,415 runs had come at an average and strike rate of 35.20 and 89.44 respectively. While the southpaw had registered six ODI centuries at No. 4, he had seven at No. 5 at a better average and an almost identical strike rate.
Readers must note that Yuvraj’s last international comeback had come on the back of a stellar domestic season. In eight Ranji Trophy innings that season, Yuvraj’s 672 runs had come at an average of 84 including a couple of centuries and half-centuries each.
