Yuvraj Singh scored a hundred for the Rest of the World XI in the exhibition match against MCC XI the other day at Lord’s.
It was a vintage Yuvraj knock. With a lethal combination of power and timing, he devastated the MCC bowling line up and took the total of his team close to 300.
Yuvraj’s effort was not enough though as the target posted by ROW got hunted down quite easily by MCC at the end, but, the shots that the Punjab leftie played during his knock, the spectators at Lord’s would remember that for some time.
Yuvraj was not fluent when he walked in first up. He was struggling to pick Saeed Ajmal’s incoming delivery, but, once the left arm spinners i.e. Daniel Vettori and Aaron Finch were given the ball, he started finding his touch slowly.
Finch helped Yuvraj with a couple of full tosses which got launched over midwicket, deep into the stands.
The opposition captain Sachin Tendulkar tried a bit of short stuff too against Yuvraj by bringing Shaun Tait into the attack, but, it didn’t work as the southpaw was getting on the top of those deliveries efficiently.
It was Sachin himself who got Yuvraj out at the end by bowling him a straighter delivery with a leg sinning action.
Yuvraj tried to loft it over long on with the spin, but, since it didn’t come in, he couldn’t get it right in his hitting arch and thus, mistimed it. The fielder who was being placed on the boundary did the rest of the work by completing the catch.
Yuvraj while returning to the pavilion received a pat on the back from each and every MCC player and he deserved that for rising to the occasion and playing that kind of a knock.