'Hope you're not spoiling him'- Erin Holland to Hazel Keech on Yuvraj Singh's birthday

What is the first image that comes in the mind of most people when someone utters the name of Yuvraj Singh? One would be lying if you say anything but of the sight of a man kneeling on the ground and letting out a guttural roar as his other teammates bask in the glory. Yuvraj Singh was that sort of a cricketer. Whenever the chips were down and India needed someone to rise to the challenge, it was almost always Yuvraj, who took his game to the next level.

‘Adversity brings out a beast in you’, and this line perfectly applies to the fighter that is Yuvraj. The two-time World Cup winner (T20 World Cup 2007, 2011 World Cup) and a cancer survivor, Yuvraj Singh is celebrating his 38th birthday today and fans, cricketers-both former and contemporary-, pundits as well as media houses are taking to Twitter to wish the southpaw.

Some hailed him as the biggest match-winner India has produced, while others reminisced about the past memories of six sixes or his 2011 World Cup exploits. Erin Holland, former Miss Australian world and a well-known anchor, posted her congratulatory wishes in a rather unique way.

Holland replied to an Instagram birthday post by the southpaws’ former Indian Premier League franchise- Mumbai Indians, where she cheekily posted, “Yay, Happy birthday @yuvisofficial ! Hope you’re not spoiling him @hazelkeechofficial”

Yuvraj Singh’s career was a tale of two contrasting halves

Yuvraj’s career- that saw him play 40 Tests, 304 ODIs and 58 T20Is and rack up 11,000 runs to along with close to 150 wickets- is a tale of two halves. It can be perfectly split between post and pre-2011. After having successfully spearheaded India’s 2011 World Cup campaign at home, Yuvraj was at the peak of his powers when he was diagnosed with a rare-germ cell cancer.

But Yuvraj isn’t the one to bow down to adversity. He went to the United States of America, went through a rigorous recovery process and in a matter of 13-14 months was back in national colours against New Zealand in 2012. But, unfortunately, barring a few glimpses of his older self- against Australia in a T20I in 2013, against England in 2017 where he notched up his highest One-day score of 150- Yuvi could never regain his past form and last played for India in 2017. The southpaw announced his retirement earlier this year in a bid to ply his trade in foreign leagues.

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