Yuvraj Singh’s father and former cricketer Yograj Singh congratulates his son for a wonderful comeback as the left-handed batsman scored his 14th ODI century against England in Cuttack and helped India take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, which concluded in Kolkata on January 22.
Speaking to Indian Express, Yograj revealed that when he used to train Yuvraj, “People use to say that I’m being harsh with the nine-year old and said that if he continues to train like this he would die. They use to call me ‘a heartless father’ but somewhere or the other I had a belief that this child has the caliber to achieve great heights. We use to train for 2 to 3 hours everyday and I think the struggle he has gone or the patience he has shown, God has been kind to him.”
“I believe age doesn’t matter, it’s the way you keep your body fit. The way Yuvi, Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni are playing they can play till 40. Yuvraj has won us matches in past, he has played so many match winning knocks. Only thing that hurts me is that we wasted a lot of time. We could have won the 2015 World Cup if he would have been in the squad. Dhoni’s burden could have been shared.”
Yuvraj surpassed his personal best score of 139 which had come against Australia in 2003-04. His knock of 150 is also the highest by any Indian batsman against England.
Recalling his chat with Yuvraj, Yograj said “I told him that you could have scored a double hundred quite easily. Better try in the next game to which he laughed and said dad you had told me the same when I had scored 169 (in a Test match against Pakistan in 2007).”
“The way both of them (Yuvraj and MS Dhoni) batted and rescued India, this had made me forgive Dhoni. The way the duo batted and supported each other, this showed their love for each other, their love for the country.
Yuvraj and Dhoni put on 256 runs for the fourth wicket to help India post a mammoth 381/6 after being put into bat. Both the veterans came together with India in trouble at 25 for three, and put up a record partnership to put their team in a commanding position. Their partnership of 256 is now the second best partnership for the fourth wicket
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