Yuvraj Singh (born on 11 December 1981) is an Indian international cricketer. He is an all-rounder who bats left-handed in the middle-order and bowls slow left-arm orthodox. He is the son of former Indian fast bowler and Punjabi actor Yograj Singh.

Yuvraj has been a member of the Indian cricket team inODIs since 2000 and played his first Test match in 2003. He was the vice-captain of the ODI team from late-2007 to late-2008. He was the Man of the Tournament in the2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, and one of the top performers at the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, both of which India won. In a match against England at the 2007 World Twenty20, he famously hit six sixes in one over bowled by Stuart Broad — a feat performed only three times previously in any form of senior cricket, and never in an international match between two Test cricket teams.

In 2011, Yuvraj was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his left lung and underwentchemotherapy treatment in Boston and Indianapolis. In March 2012, he was discharged from the hospital after completing the third and final cycle of chemotherapy and returned to India in April. He made his international comeback in a Twenty20 match in September against New Zealand shortly before the 2012 World Twenty20.

Yuvraj was conferred with the Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting award, in the year 2012 by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee. In 2014, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour.

Youth career

Yuvraj broke into the Punjab Under-16s at the age of 13 years and 11 months in November of the 1995–96 season against Jammu and Kashmir-16s. In 1996–97, Yuvraj was promoted to the Punjab Under-19s and scored 137 not out againstHimachal Pradesh Under-19s.

Yuvraj made his first-class debut in late-1997 against Orissa during the 1997/98 Ranji Trophy season. In that match, he did not score any runs. His first breakout performance came in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy Final of 1999 against Bihar; Bihar were all out with a score of 357 and Yuvraj opened for Punjab and he made 358 runs alone. Yuvraj represented India in the series against Sri Lanka Under-19s in India in February 1999. In the third ODI, Yuvraj scored 89 runs from 55 balls. In 1999-2000 Ranji Trophy, he scored 149 against Haryana.

In the ICC Under-19 World Cup 1999/00 which India won under the captaincy of Mohammed Kaif, Yuvraj's all-round performance earned him the Player of the Tournament award and a call to the national squad. His performance in the tournament included a quickfire 58 off 25 balls against Australia in the semis and, 68 (62) and 4/36 against New Zealand in a group stage match. Yuvraj was subsequently selected in 2000 for the first intake of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

Fighting against Cancer

His issues began with breathing difficulties, nausea and bouts of vomiting blood during India's successful run through the 2011 World Cup, which he ended as the player of the tournament. In 2011, he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor stage-I in his left lung and underwent chemotherapy treatment at the Cancer Research Institute in Boston, USA as well as Medicine Facilities in Indianapolis,Indiana. Shabnam Singh was with Yuvraj during his diagnosis with a cancerous tumor in his left lung in USA.

In March 2012, Yuvraj was discharged from hospital after completing the third and final cycle of chemotherapy and returned to India in April.

Solid Come Back

After his chemotherapy sessions treating seminoma in Indianapolis, Yuvraj's cancer showing full signs of remission, he aimed at resuming cricket at the World Twenty20. The selectors picked Yuvraj Singh to be a part of the 15-member Indian squad for the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in September, 2012.

He played against New Zealand in a T20I at Chennai where he scored 34 off 26 balls (1 four, 2 sixes) as his side lost by only 1 run. He started his World Twenty20 campaign with a 3/24 against Afghanistan. He took 1/16 against Australia, 2/16 against Pakistan and a 2/23 against South Africa. He ended up being the highest wicket taker for India in the tournament, though he could not match up to the expectations with his bat.

He got selected to the Test series against England at home, and while preparing for test, he played a single Duleep Trophy match against Central Zone at Hyderabad where he scored 208 off 241 balls (33 fours and 3 sixes) before being caught and bowled by Murali Kartik. Then he also starred in a first class match against England as a member of India A cricket team, where he scored 59 (7 fours and 4 sixes), and took 5/94 at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.He later played 3 test matches in the 4 match test series against England after which he was dropped. He later was selected for the India Pakistan Series in the second T20 he came back to form by scoring a blistering 72 off just 36 balls. He could not make an impact in the One Day series against Pakistan and England only scoring 1 half century in 7 matches.

He did not have a very good IPL troubled by a back injury and bad form he was dropped from the squad for the Champions Trophy and Zimbabwe series. He made a come back through India A against West Indies A series scoring 123 off just 89 balls in the first ODI followed by 40 off 58 balls and 61 off 59 balls.

In September 2013, Yuvraj made a comeback to India's limited-over’s squad for the Twenty20 and first three ODIs of the home series against Australia. However, following a fitness programme in France, he has shown a return to top form in List A cricket.

He was the leading run-getter for India A in the limited-overs series against the touring West Indies A, with 224 runs from three matches, including one hundred and a fifty at an average of 74.66. He also scored a half-century for India Blue in the Challenger Trophy, a domestic 50-overs tournament.

In October 2013, Yuvraj scored 77 off 35 showed his dominance in the only T20I against Australia at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. India was facing an asking-rate of nearly 12 at 100 for 4 in the 12th over but Yuvraj's response was so forceful that all Dhoni needed to do was give him the strike. By the end, the partnership was 102 at exactly two runs a ball. But Yuvraj had a woeful home ODI series against Australia in October, scoring 19 runs in four innings, when he was visibly troubled by the pace of Mitchell Johnson.

He couldn't bat himself back into form in the home ODIs against West Indies or on the South Africa tour and was expected to be dropped for the New Zealand tour given the conditions in that country and the hosts' pace-heavy attack.

In February 2014, Yuvraj was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for a whopping 14 crore. Kingfisher Airlines employee union sent a letter to Yuvraj. It requests him not to play for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

He was not selected for Asia Cup 2014 in Bangladesh but he selected for the World T20 same place. Yuvraj performances in the practice matches were major boosts for India ahead of the World T20.

In Super10 match against he missed a full delivery and was bowled second ball. In both matches, he put down what could have been costly misses Chris Gayle and Mohammad Hafeez but India created and converted more chances soon after. His solitary over in the tournament so far went for 13.

Yuvraj Singh scored 60 of 43 balls is his third fifty against Australia at Mirpur and his eighth in T20Is. Yuvraj has gone past Gautam Gambhir to become the top run-scorer for India in T20 internationals.

He had 84-run partnership with Mahendra Singh Dhoni is India's third-highest for the fifth wicket. India's highest partnership for the fifth wicket came in their last match against the same opposition, when Yuvraj and Dhoni added 102 while chasing 202 in Rajkot.