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Updated on June 16th 2021, 1:07:38 pm

2007 T20 World Cup - When Yuvraj Singh Went Berserk and hit six sixes

18th September, 2007 When team India had locked horns with England in the inaugural T20l World Cup. Yuvraj Singh took the charge and hit six sixes in an over & smashed the fastest T20 half-century in just 12 balls

Recently, the former Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh has go back in the past to admit that he was expecting to lead the side straight after 2007 World Cup Exit of team India but it was MS Dhoni who was picked to captained team India and with that there is one memory which will be remembered for long time when Yuvraj Singh took the charge to justified the why he is the greatest all-rounder batsman in the Indian Cricket History.

 

"So, basically, India had lost the 50-over World Cup, right? I mean there was quite a turmoil in Indian cricket and then there was a two-month tour of England and there was also a month-long tour in between with South Africa and Ireland. And then there was a month of the T20 World Cup so there were like four months away from home. So probably the seniors thought that they needed a break and obviously, nobody took the T20 World Cup seriously. I was expecting to captain India in the T20 World Cup and then it was announced MS Dhoni will be the captain," Yuvraj Singh said on the 22 Yarns podcast.

 

18th September, 2007 When team India had locked horns with England in the do and die encounter during the inaugural T20l World Cup Tournament at Kingsmead Durban. After the successfully completion of Group Stage round, eight teams have qualified for Super eight stage where team India, England, New Zealand and South Africa have placed in Group E while Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have placed in Group F. Every team has to win at least two games out of three they have featured in the super eight round.

 

Before this nail-biting match against team India, England was out of the tournament after losing the first two games to New Zealand and South Africa. Where South Africa and New Zealand have won the two games already while team India was still looking for its first victory who has to win the remaining two games of the round against England and South Africa with better net run-rate so that they can qualify for the semi-final.

 

Before this instance of Yuvraj Singh, there were only three times when batsmen have hit 6 sixes in an over. Gary Sobers, Ravi Shastri and Herschelle Gibbs were those batsman who have smashed the 6 sixes in an over but that didn't receive the ovations where one against associate nation while during other two batsman the cricket was not much popular like this era of cricket.

 

One of the greatest left-handed batsman Yuvraj Singh career was heights of greatness from Natwest Final 2002 to Man of the tournament in 2011 World Cup to many match-winning partnerships with MS Dhoni which has rocket launched the art of chasing in limited overs cricket. But what actually defines the greatness of a player? Records or number of matches he has played? I think when we talk about Yuvraj Singh who has never believed in all these complexities has the one moment which every player would dream about to have in his cricket playing days.

 

Yuvraj Singh has described quite potentially why he was the most complete cricketer in the limited overs cricket. After winning the toss in the do and die situation, team India was 155 runs for the loss of 3 wickets by the end of 17th over. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have laid the foundation for the big score but the momentum which was capitalised perfectly was from Yuvraj Singh who came at the crease in 17th over and hammered the boundary on the last ball of 17th over of debutant Chris Tremlett.

 

Andrew Flintoff came in to bowl the 18th over where it was started at all, Yuvraj Singh smashed two boundaries in his over which were actually the good lengths deliveries. After the over, when Flintoff was going towards the fielding he said something wrong to Yuvraj Singh which made him very angry and he recalls that incident.

 

Recalling the incident, Yuvi said Flintoff told him, "‘Those were ******* ridiculous shots’, because I had hit him for two boundaries in that over. I said, ‘ **** you’. Then he said, ‘Excuse me?’ I said, ‘You heard what I said. And he said I will cut your throat off. I said you see this bat in my hand. You know where I'm gonna hit you with this bat?"

 

What followed next was the glimpse when you have made a great player angry, Yuvraj Singh took the charge against Stuart Broad who was bowling the 19th over and got the treatment he actually didn't deserve. Where broad balls to Yuvraj Singh sent him over the ropes as he was angry and looking to make a statement “we are not underdogs anymore”. Six balls and six sixes the crowd went crazy at Durban and the cricketing world didn't believe at first that it could be possible actually to witness such surreal hitting against the test playing nation. 6-6-6-6-6-6, Yuvraj Singh has smashed the fastest T20 half-century in just 12 balls that even the on-field umpire couldn't control his emotions after the final six and smiles away with what he was witnessing.

 

While in the last over of the innings was Andrew Flintoff where once again Yuvraj Singh hit him for six but was out on the next delivery after the absolute carnage and destruction to take the scoreboard to 218 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 20 overs. Yuvraj Singh scored 58 runs off 16 balls. After he was walking towards the dressing room, the crowd stood up and gave the massive ovation to the man on mission impossible. England in the chase fell short of target and only managed to score 200 runs and lost the match by 18 runs.