Stylish left-handed batsman Yuvraj Singh on Monday announced his retirement from international cricket, bringing down the curtain on a glittering career.
Making the announcement in Mumbai, Yuvraj said, “After 25 years in and around the 22 yards and almost 17 years of international cricket on and off, I have decided to move on. This game taught me how to fight, how to fall, to dust off, to get up again and move forward.”
“I was extremely lucky to play 400 games for India. I could have never imagined it when I first started playing cricket,” Yuvraj added.
“It was a love-hate relationship with this game. I can’t explain what it really means to me. This game taught me to fight. I have failed more times than I succeeded and I will never give up,” Yuvraj said.
Yuvraj listed the the 2011 World Cup triumph, getting six sixes in an over against England in the 2007 Twenty20 edition and his first Test hundred, against Pakistan in Lahore in 2004, as the three most special moments of his career.
He will always be remembered as one of the finest batsmen ever to have played limited overs cricket. A player who made batting at the highest level in international cricket look effortless on his day.
Yuvraj confirmed that he will be pursuing a freelance career in ICC approved foreign Twenty20 leagues.
Yuvraj burst onto the scene in the ICC Knockout Tournament in 2000 in Nairobi and helped India reach the final.
