Yuvraj Singh opens up on his post-retirement plans after announcing the same during a press conference in Mumbai
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It is indeed an emotional day for the Cricketing fraternity, especially for Indian Cricket fans in particular, as their the 2007 T20 and the 2011 World Cup hero bids adieu to International as well as First-class Cricket during a press conference in Mumbai.
It has been quite a roller-coaster journey for the 37-year-old in his 19-year-long International career starting in the year 2000 in the ODI format against Kenya.
In a press conference in Mumbai , the star Indian all-rounder made the emotional announcement, as he had called for a media interaction for Monday a day before.
“I have decided to move on”- Yuvraj
“After 25 years, and in 22 yards and almost 17 years of International Cricket on and off, I have decided to move on”. These were the opening words with which Yuvraj formally announced his retirement from International Cricket after giving some golden moments for the fans to cherish over the years.
During his brief retirement speech, Yuvraj was vocal about his illustrious career and the ‘Love-Hate relationship’ he has had with the beautiful sport.
Battling the deadly Cancer, winning it over, making a dream comeback to the national side with his highest score of 150 during the 2017 Home-series against England, the legend from the ‘Land of Five rivers’ has seen it all- and is proud of it (rightly so) at the end of the day.
“Cricket has given me everything I have and is the reason why I stand here today. It was such a love – hate relationship with the sport. In retrospect, I don’t think I hated this game because the love I have for it today which will remain constant until the end of life. I can’t really explain it in words what is that feeling, this game taught me how to fight, how to fall, to dust myself off, to get up again and move forward”, said an emotional Yuvraj.
“I have failed more times than I have succeeded but I never gave up and will never give up till my last breath, and that’s what cricket taught me. I gave my blood and sweat to the game, once I got into it, especially when it came to representing my country” added Yuvraj.
“To help cancer patients in the next phase of my life”- Yuvraj
Yuvraj also spoke about his next assignment in life, which is to help Cancer patients through his foundation ‘YouWeCan’. He has planned to help the underprivileged by conducting screening camps, funding their treatments and sponsoring education to underprivileged cancer survived kids.
“This brings me to my next focus in life, which is to help Cancer patients through my foundation YouWeCan. At YouWeCan we spread awareness about cancer and help the underprivileged by conducting screening camps, funding their treatments and sponsoring education to underprivileged cancer survived kids. We have also started our own merchandising arm YWC for the foundation to help generate funds for the cause. I really want to make a difference to the society by setting example through my inspiring story”, said Yuvraj.
Yuvraj also spoke at length about his best and worst phase of his career. While the 2011 World Cup win would certainly hold the most special place in his heart, his knock of 11 runs off 21 deliveries against Sri Lanka during the 2014 World T20 final, was the worst day (as per him) of his life. But inspite of that, he didn’t get bogged down. He went back to his basics, performed magnificently in the domestic circuit, and made a scintillating comeback to Indian Cricket.
“Then I took a bit of time off and that’s when I realised why I play cricket – its because I love the game. So I went back to basics, and scored heavily in domestic cricket and about a year and a half later I made by comeback in T20 for India again where I hit six and four in the last over against Australia in Sydney and suddenly all the belief came right back.
Though I was still in and out of the team for a while and after scoring almost 700 runs in 5 games in domestic cricket I finally made a comeback in one day cricket after three years in Cuttack, on 18th January against England in 2017 and recorded my highest one-day score of 150 (127). When everybody said it was impossible”, exclaimed the all-rounder.
“Was offered a farewell Match, if failed the Yo-Yo test”
Yuvraj also revealed that 6 months after he played his last ODI in Indian colours (against West Indies in 2017), he was offered a farewell Match provided he deliberately failed the Yo-Yo test- a necessity for making into the current Indian squad.
Yuvraj, turned down the offer with utter disdain, insisting that he would “go home quietly” if he were to fail the test.
“I didn’t tell anyone in BCCI that I want a farewell game,” Yuvraj said. “If I had the potential, I would have left from the ground. I didn’t need a match. I was told that if I failed a Yo-Yo test then I can play a retirement match. I told them I don’t need the game, if I don’t pass the Yo-Yo test, I’ll go home quietly. I passed the Yo-Yo Test and rest is not my call.”
