In the Indian cricket history, Yuvraj Singh is a name that would forever be known for his heroic game in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. However, the mother of the veteran star batsman Shabnam Singh says that his transition started a year or one and a half years ago. Yuvraj, who last played an international game in June 2017, came up and announced his international retirement on June 10, 2019.
The 37-year-old allrounder had an illustrious 17-year-long international cricket career, facing all the dips and highs. Having played more than 400 international matches, Yuvraj had a dream run at the 2011 World Cup as he amassed 362 runs including one century and four fifties.
At the press conference last June (when he announced his retirement), Yuvraj pulled down the curtain on his cricket career with an emotional speech. The allrounder gave away his best, when in primal form, across all the formats of cricket.
Nevertheless, during a recent event, Yuvraj Singh’s mother Shabnam Singh came forth and stated that ‘retirement’ is a phase that no player can escape from. She was speaking on the sidelines of an event where she was announced and felicitated as the Conseiller Economique to the Republic of Madagascar.
Yuvraj Singh’s mother: ‘There is no player who can escape that’
Being first the wife and then the mother of a cricketer, Yuvraj’s mother knew what retirement means to a cricketer. She addressed her son’s retirement as a vital step in every cricketer’s life and told that Yuvraj’s transition to being an ex-player started a year or one-and-a-half-year ago. The charities, other sports events, fashion events, etc. helped Yuvraj to be able to cope with the current phase of his life.
“The transition had already happened about one or one and a half years back and he knew he had to accept it,” Shabnam told IANS. “There is no player who can escape that. There is a lot of things that he was doing with his charity foundation, with other sports, with fashion. So it was very easy for him to switch because he was ready for it.”
His mother expressed her happiness in knowing that Yuvraj has accepted and is happy with his present life.
“He is very chilled out now, very happy. He is playing other sports. He has got into tennis, golf; he is out everywhere. He is now very relaxed and I am very happy for him,” she expressed.
Shabnam said that though Yuvraj wanted to play more, every cricketer has to face this and it is a fact that Yuvraj has accepted with time and he is now happy with his decision.
“It happens with every cricketer. It’s nothing abnormal,” she said about him wanting to play more. “He wanted to play on but then it was not to be. He has just accepted that fact and moved on and he is very happy,” she said.
After his international retirement, Yuvraj is open up to the franchise-based cricket leagues happening around the globe. Recently, he has featured in the ten-overs cricket format at the recently-concluded Abu Dhabi T10 and has spoken about the limitations that come with age.
“I had a back spasm today so I can’t really fight my body too much,” he had said after one of the matches. “I think mentally I am still young, but the body says take it easy, so hopefully I’ll be fit for the next game.”
Ever since his international debut in 2000, Yuvraj played 40 Tests, 304 ODIs and 58 T20 Internationals. He scored 11,778 runs across formats and picked a total of 148 international wickets. The fabulous limited-overs cricketer created many memories with his bat and his fielding.