"A Player Like Yuvraj Singh Didn’t Need To Say It" - S Sreesanth Recalls First Meeting With India Great

Former India fast-bowler S Sreesanth has revealed an important piece of advice he received from Yuvraj Singh. The former bowler disclosed the advice on the occasion of Yuvraj Singh’s 42nd birthday on Tuesday (December 12).

S Sreesanth made his debut for Team India in ODIs in 2005 as a 22-year-old and quickly became a regular. In 2006, he also made his Test and T20I debuts for the national team. The right-arm pacer was a key member of the Indian team that won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 as well as the ODI World Cup in 2011.

Yuvraj Singh was already an established member of the team when S Sreesanth was trying to find his feet in international cricket. And he received a piece of important advice from his senior teammate. The former India batsman advised the Kerala star to stop partying and work hard to do well in the game. S Sreesanth recalled that he received the advice when Yuvraj Singh was playing a match for Indian Airlines.

“I got to play the KSCA Trophy in Bangalore. I was playing a game for Indian Airlines and Yuvraj had also come to play that match. Laxman bhai [VVS Laxman] was also playing since it was the final. He [Yuvraj] watched my bowling during the match. He was standing at slip. I had put up a very good performance in that game,” S Sreesanth told Sportskeeda.

“When I was sitting in the dressing room, this is around 2003, before I played for India; I was removing my spikes and was glancing at what Yuvi pa was doing. He called me and told me, ‘Sreesanth, sab chhod ke, party-sharty sab chhod do. Ab cricket pe dhyan do. Aap India khel sakte ho’ [Sreesanth, stop partying and focus on cricket. You can play for India],” he added.

“[He told me] If you keep bowling like this in first-class cricket, you can play for India in the next 2-3 years. Don’t relax now. A player like Yuvraj didn’t need to say it to a 19-20 year old boy. Today, very few players do something like this. But Yuvi pa told me, you can play,” he added.

S Sreesanth’s international career in numbers:

S Sreesanth plied his trade for Team India from 2005 to 2011. He represented India in 27 Tests, 53 ODIs, and 10 T20Is. In Tests, he picked up 87 wickets while in ODIs and T20Is, he picked up 75 and 7 wickets respectively. Talking about Yuvraj Singh, he played 40 Tests, 304 ODIs, and 58 T20Is for India.

Yuvraj had played a key role in India’s triumphs in the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 World Cup. He was the Man of the Tournament in the 2011 World Cup. The former batsman scored over 10000 runs in international cricket with the help of 17 centuries and 71 half-centuries.