A tribute to Indian cricket's ailing Prince

On October 7, 2000, an 18-year-old walked in to bat for the first time for India in ODIs in a pressure cooker game. We were taking on formidable world champions Australia in the quarter-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy.

Put in to bat by the Aussies, India was tested against the troika of fearsome pacers in the form of Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie. The 18-year-old blasted a man-of-the match knock of 84 runs off 80 balls.

No century, but victory.

It was this type of innings that marked the mercurial Yuvraj Singh for life.

We were soon treated to "that" innings in 2002 that defined Yuvi for many years after. Chasing 326 for victory against England in the NatWest Series final, India were tottering at 146-5 after the loss of the great Sachin Tendulkar.

Yuvraj belted an attractive 69 and put on 121 runs with Mohammed Kaif as India won by two wickets. Captain Sourav Ganguly bared his chest at England's hallowed ground and the rest is history.

Image: Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh returns back to the Australian bowler Brett Lee as catcher Adam Gilchrist looks on, during their match on the 4th day of the 11 nation International Cricket Council (ICC) tournament, 07 October 2000 in Nairobi.

Images: AFP