'He threw it in the bin' - Chris Broad recalls gifting son Stuart Yuvraj Singh-signed jersey after 2007 six-sixes incident

Chris Broad, father of England fast-bowling great Stuart Broad, revealed that he once gifted his son an Indian jersey signed by Yuvraj Singh for Christmas following the 2007 T20 World Cup. During that tournament, in the iconic India–England clash, Yuvraj created history by smashing six sixes in a single over off Stuart, a feat that remains unmatched in the tournament’s history.

Stuart, still early in his international career, was shaken after being at the receiving end of Yuvraj’s explosive batting, which had been sparked by an on-field exchange with Andrew Flintoff. Reflecting on the moment with trademark British humour, Chris recalled that his light-hearted gesture of gifting the jersey was not well received by his son at the time.

“He didn’t appreciate my gesture after he was hit for six sixes by Yuvraj Singh. I got Yuvraj to sign an Indian shirt and gave it to him for Christmas. Apparently, he opened the present, saw it, and threw it in the bin. I think he had a bit of a sense of humor failure over that," Chris told The Telegraph.

Stuart did not take long to recover from that setback. Although his T20I career never quite flourished after the Yuvraj episode, he went on to become one of England’s greatest Test bowlers, retiring in 2023 with 604 wickets in 167 matches. His father, Chris, a former England opening batter himself, expressed slight disappointment that Stuart could nOt fully realise his potential with the bat. Despite scoring 3662 runs in his Test career, he averaged only 18.03.

“Once he asked me, out of the blue, early season to go into the nets at Trent Bridge and throw him some balls, and we had an hour working together, and he went out and scored a few runs for England. “In the press he said, ‘Yeah, it’s been great and I’d like to thank Paul Farbrace for helping me with my batting’. Hello? What about your good old dad? And I did mention it to him and he said, ‘But politically, I’ve got to say the right thing’. I’m sorry, no, you don’t. So that was a bit disappointing. But I did try, I did say to him, ‘I can help you with your batting’. But he would go, ‘No, I’m not interested Dad, I’m a bowler. I’m not a batsman’. I get that. But he could have been so much better,” said Chris.