10 special innings by Yuvraj Singh in ODIs and T20Is

1. 139 vs Australia (Sydney, VB Series, January 2004)

Yuvraj Singh celebrates reaching his century during the one day international match against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney, 22 January 2004.

If there was ever an innings so sublime, so rock-solid and yet had a hint of strokeful defiance, it was the 22-year-old’s magnificent knock against Australia in the seventh match of the 2004 VB Series.

Early strikes by Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie pushed India on the backfoot, but Australia’s perennial thorn VVS Laxman stabilized the innings in the company of the young left-hander as they blunted the bowling attack with a combination of dour defence and attacking strokeplay.

Yuvraj hit the ball with amazing precision, rotating the strike and egging on his slower senior partner to keep the scorecard ticking. He finally exploded in the penultimate over, slamming Ian Harvey for 22 runs, finishing with 139 as India posted 296/4.

Rain reduced the game to 34 overs for Australia’s chase, and Gilchrist’s power blast, plenty of twists and turns and a final full-toss hit for six left the young Indian side a dejected lot.

It did not give India a win, but it did show the world the immense amount of talent that Yuvraj Singh possessed.

For the sake of the fans, and for the greater good of Indian cricket, it is imperative that he gets back into the national squad soon.