Yuvraj keeps maiden fifer ball for future motivation

Umpire bowden parts with the ball that helped Yuvi get a fifer; spinner to use it as motivation

Yuvraj keeps maiden fifer ball for future motivation

Umpire bowden parts with the ball that helped Yuvi get a fifer; spinner to use it as motivation

It was a strange sight - a batsman keeping the ball as a souvenir. But that's exactly what Yuvraj Singh did after grabbing his maiden five-wicket haul to fashion India's thumping victory over Ireland yesterday.

"I wanted that ball only. I requested Billy (umpire Bowden) and he was glad to give it to me," Yuvraj told
MiD DAY after India's five-wicket win in the Group B game at M Chinnaswamy stadium.

"In future, whenever I go through a bad phase, this will ball help me a lot. I can get motivation from seeing this ball."

Watching Yuvraj decimate Ireland with figures of 5-31 was his former captain and mentor, Sourav Ganguly, from the commentator's box.

Ganguly said the 29-year-old from Punjab deserved his fiver.

"In my time, Virender Sehwag used to bowl (part-time) like this. Nowadays Viru doesn't bowl, but Yuvi is playing that role. There is no doubt that he bowled superbly today. He maintained the right line and length. He deserved to take five wickets today," Ganguly told MiD DAY.

The Prince of Kolkata said the part-time spinners were always effective on subcontinent tracks. "The pitches here always help part-time spinners. You have to know how and when to use them. I believe part-time slow bowlers can change the whole game," he said.

Another man proud of Yuvraj's bowling performance was his father Yograj. " My son has proved to everyone. I am really proud for him," Yograj told MiD DAY over phone. "I am just praying that he should keep performing like this. He trained really hard before the World Cup and he has started getting the results."

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