NEW DELHI: Yuvraj Singh, who made his debut in Nairobi, Kenya, during the ICC Knockout, played under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly. India reached the final but could not clinch the trophy, as New Zealand defeated them by 4 wickets in a last-over encounter.
India had defeated Australia by 20 runs in the quarter-finals and South Africa in the semi-finals by 95 runs. Sourav Ganguly was the leading run-scorer with 348 runs, while Venkatesh Prasad was the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with eight wickets.
Sourav Ganguly, now the former captain and former President of the BCCI, shared an incident when he asked a security guard to keep an eye on the young Yuvraj Singh during his debut series.
“With Yuvraj Singh, the first thing I had to make sure of was that he was in his hotel room by 9:30 in the evening,” Ganguly shared at an event.
“He went on the tour of Kenya, and I still can’t forget the day we landed in Nairobi for the Champions Trophy in 2001. Young, good-looking Yuvraj, 17 years old, and you don’t expect a 17-year-old to sit in their room and read the Bible,” Ganguly continued.
“As soon as we landed, the first thing I did was call the security guy. He was a big, tough 6’4” guy. His arms were as big as my shoulders, so I took him aside and said, ‘Listen, mate, you need to keep an eye on this kid.’
The security guy asked, ‘Who is this kid?’
Ganguly replied, ‘He’s the youngest member of the team, and he’s a fantastic young player, but he loves life. So you have to keep an eye on him.’
The security guy asked, ‘So what do I do?’
To which the former captain replied, ‘Just make sure that after 9:30 pm the night before the game, he is in his room. If he’s not, come and tell me. Don’t tell the manager, because you and I will go and find him and bring him back, as I need him to perform the next morning.'”
A guard was appointed for the security of Yuvi. #yuvrajsingh #souravganguly #indiancricketteam
In his debut tournament, Yuvraj Singh batted shoulder to shoulder with Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, with Tendulkar scoring 171 runs, Dravid 151 runs, and Yuvraj 143 runs.