New Delhi [India], September 26 (ANI): Legendary India World Cup all-rounder Yuvraj Singh opened up on hitting pacer Stuart Broad for six sixes during the encounter against England in the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup 2007.
Yuvraj was speaking at the ‘Club Prairie Fire’ podcast with cricket legends Michael Vaughan and Adam Gilchrist. In the clash against England, he became the first international player to hit six sixes in an over in T20Is and the first Indian to do so in international cricket as a whole. He scored 58 in just 16 balls, with three fours and seven sixes that helped India reach a match-winning 218/4 in a must-win game.
Speaking on the podcast, Yuvraj recalled, “It was the first T20 WC. Nobody knew how to approach a T20 game. Yorkshire was the place where I played my first T20 games and understood the format. In 2007, it (the World Cup) was new, and seniors were rested. There was hardly any planning. It was just one of those days where everything hits the centre of the bat.”
The all-rounder said that an arguement with all-rounder Andrew Flintoff encouraged him to hit six sixes.
“He said a few kind words to me. I went back to check on him. The umpire came, and I told him he started it and either he stops or he will have to interfere. Umpire lets him go, and I was a bit furious. I just wanted to hit every ball out of the ground, and it happened. After that third six where I hit Broady over long off, Paul Collingwood discussed with him sticking with the off stump line, bowl yorkers outside. He changed his line last moment, trying to attack my legs. I was like, ‘This is good for me.’. The fourth ball was a decent ball, hit the toe of my bat, boundary was so short, so it went for a six. In the last ball, I just hit him straight. Last ball I knew, just a yorker. Variations were not there in T20s that time,” he added.
On his favourite captains, Yuvraj leaned towards legendary Saurav Ganguly as he was the one who gave several youngsters a chance, though he listed some traits that made MS Dhoni and Anil Kumble great as captains.
“We had a couple of guys, mostly it was Saurav and MS for a while. I got into the team when Saurav was the captain. He gave us a lot of confidence and chances, to me Sehwag, Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh) and Zaheer (Khan). He stuck to us for a bit, knowing we could be match winners of a future. We were young, not consistent. Then the team went to Rahul for a bit and then Dhoni.”
“Under Dhoni, we had a great coach, Gary Kirsten, who made us believe we could win the World Cup and become the #1 Test team. Saurav was him being aggressive, taking teams head on. Dhoni was also a great captain. MS always had a plan B, that is what I really liked about him. Then Kumble became the Test captain when we came to Australia. His attitude was to take the ball when the situation was tough, not hand it to others, or to take the ball when wickets were falling. I thought it was great. Saurav was the guy who gave us the opportunity to shine in international cricket,” he added. (ANI)
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