Former Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh has revealed the toughest bowler he faced in his career. The southpaw batsman has named Sri Lanka’s legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan as the one who gave him sleepless nights. The left-hander stated that he had no clue while playing against Muralitharan.
Murali was known to bamboozle the best players in the world and Yuvraj was no exception. The off-spinner bowled 162 balls to Yuvraj Singh in which the left-hander managed to score 119 runs in ODI format. The Sri Lankan got the better of the left-hander on three occasions in the 50-overs version. Muralitharan dismissed Yuvraj on four occasions in the Test fold.
Furthermore, Yuvraj Singh also added the former Australian legendary paceman Glenn McGrath also breathed down his neck with the ball going away. However, Yuvraj considered himself to be lucky as he didn’t play a lot against McGrath because the southpaw was mostly warming the benches in the Test format.
McGrath dismissed Yuvraj twice in the red ball version and got the better of the left-hander on a solitary occasion each in ODI and T20I formats.
“I really struggled against (Muttiah) Muralitharan. Had no clue against him. Glenn (McGrath) would trouble me a lot with the away-going delivery. Luckily I didn’t play much against McGrath because in Test matches I was sitting out and cheering for the seniors,” Yuvraj told Sportstar.
Yuvraj added former Indian talisman batsman Sachin Tendulkar suggested him to sweep against Muttiah Muralitharan and the ploy made Yuvraj’s life a bit easier.
“Sachin (Tendulkar) told me to start sweeping (against Muralitharan) and I was at ease,” he added.
It was not easy to play against the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan and Glenn McGrath who both had their wood on world-class players. Muralitharan finished as the leading wicket-taker with 800 scalps whereas Glenn McGrath snared 563 wickets in his illustrious Test career. Murali had great skills with the ball while McGrath was always consistent with his line and length.
Meanwhile, Yuvraj Singh was India’s biggest match-winner in the white ball cricket. The all-rounder was instrumental in India’s second World Cup title as he scored 362 runs in the 2011 World Cup and also scalped 15 wickets. Thus, he was awarded the Player of the tournament.
Written by: Gautam Chauhan
