It is very difficult to look beyond the six sixes in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup while analysing Yuvraj Singh's performance in 2007. Those six shots off a hapless Stuart Broad will define the Punjab all-rounder's career, no matter what the 26 year old does in future.
And it is those six shots that set the tone for India's subsequent triumph in the inaugural edition of the tournament. India had a stuttering start to the tournament, and lost their first Super 8s match to New Zealand before the blitzkrieg began.
To say that Yuvraj was the architect of India's triumph in South Africa would mean belittling the contributions of other players. That said, his contribution cannot be neglected. There was his superlative 30-ball 70 in
the semi-final against Australia, for instance, or his outstanding strike rate of 194.74 -- the third highest in the tournament after Shahid Afridi and Chris Gayle. Not to forget his dozen hits over the fence, which was the
tournament's second highest after Craig McMillan's 13 sixes.
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There was, memorably, the fastest 50 ever in Twenty20 cricket, against England and largely courtesy those six sixes.
It was no flash in the pan either -- Yuvraj has, by any yardstick, been among the year's biggest achievers. He was one of four Indians, along with Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, to aggregate 1,000-plus
runs in ODIs this year (1,287 runs@45.96).
He had a magnificent 121 against Australia at Hyderabad in a lost cause, and an impressive 272 runs@68.00 in five matches in the recent ODI series against Pakistan, his crucial partnerships with Dhoni bailing India out on
more occasions than one. And, finally, his lone Test this year at Bangalore -- his first in one-and-a-half years -- saw him score his highest so far (169) while being involved in a crucial 300-run partnership with Ganguly after India were down in the dumps. Remember, he made it to the squad only because Tendulkar was injured.
Jat lag
Yuvraj's 6 sixes off one Stuart Broad over in Twenty20 World Cup was only the fourth such instance in the history of cricket.
Those shots helped also helped him reach the fastest fifty ever in a Twenty20 game, off just 12 balls, and also the fastest in any form of the game.
Yuvraj also hit the longest six of the tournament at 119 metres.
In September, he was appointed vice-captain of the ODI team.
In the Bangalore Test against Pakistan, he recorded his highest Test score of 169, his third Test hundred.
Photograph: Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images
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