Yuvraj Singh, an inborn fighter has been one of the most entertaining batsmen in the world of cricket. He was born on 12 December 1981. He has been part of three world cup winning teams – the ICC U-19 World Cup 2000, ICC World T20 2007 and ICC World Cup 2011.
No Indian can ever afford to forget the treatment he provided for England’s Stuart Broad and Andrew Flintoff in Durban. Yuvraj Singh has been awarded Arjuna Award and Padma Shri by the Government of India for his excellent contribution to Indian cricket.
10 lesser-known facts about Yuvraj Singh:-
- Disinterest for Cricket
Yuvraj Singh did not want to be a cricketer. He was never interested in playing cricket until his father Yograj has forced him to. As a child, Yuvi practised sports like tennis, football and skating. He has even won Gold for the country in Under-14 Skating Championship. His father threw away the medal and told his son to focus on cricket.
- Acting in Movie
As a child, Yuvraj acted in a couple of movies. The short scene in a Punjabi film was surprisingly directed by Yuvi himself. Yograj Singh, Yuvraj’s father, had also got into films after his retirement.
- Biopic on Yuvraj
Fans might get to see a future biopic on Yuvraj Singh. Abhishek Bachchan has stated that he finds Yuvraj Singh’s life journey to be quite inspiring and motivating. The Bollywood actor has expressed his strong desire to play the role of the cricketer. We might see a move on this after the match-winner retires from cricket.
- Sachin, a genuine gentleman of the game
Yuvraj was over furious in his early days as the same case with most of the Punjabi boys. Yuvi revealed that he would often throw his bat after an early dismissal or any kind of displeasure. It was Sachin Tendulkar who rebuked him and told him that it is the bat that brings food to his home. These words have hit Yuvi’s heart harder and he never repeated the mistake.
- The reason behind the ‘No.12 Jersey’
The inborn fighter Yuvraj Singh was born on 12 December 1981 i.e. the 12th date of the month and 12th month of the year. He considers 12 to be his lucky number.
- Parents’ separation
Parents’ separation was hard on Yuvraj Singh, the 15-16 years old boy who has just started to play cricket. Yuvraj wished to live with his mother but due to financial constraints, he had to live with his father. Yuvraj handed the first cheque of Rs.21 lacs for playing cricket to his mother and asked her to buy a house. The moment she did, Yuvi moved in with her.
- Microsoft’s brand ambassador
Yuvraj Singh was signed by Microsoft as a brand ambassador when the Xbox 360 video game console was launched in the Indian market way back in 2006.
- The roots of cancer
Yuvraj was not ready to accept when he heard the worst news of his life. He suffered from a rare type of seminoma (germ cell tumour). Yuvraj brought out the fighter in him and stayed strong during the long treatment. Undoubtedly the match winner played in the ICC World Cup 2011 with the roots of cancer and in few matches, he had blood-vomit on the field.
- Inspiring comeback
There are only a few athletes in the world who made a comeback to the world of sports after suffering from cancer or tumour. He took inspiration from Lance Armstrong, the cyclist who overcame cancer to win the Tour de France numerous times. Only months after his chemotherapy cycles, Yuvraj returned to the international cricket and made his comeback during a T20 against New Zealand in September 2012.
- ‘YouWeCan’ the saviour of millions
After overcoming from the threat of cancer Yuvi realized that there are many such people who are facing similar health issues and to help those in need he started the organization ‘YouWeCan’. Today YouWeCan has helped in bringing out cancer cases of millions of people and they all are getting treated.
