Yuvraj Singh said it was satisfying for him to smash six sixes in an over against England at the 2007 T20 World Cup after being on the receiving end as a bowler just prior to his iconic knock at Kingsmead.
Yuvraj was hit for five sixes in a row during a One-Day International at The Oval by Dimitri Mascarenhas when India had toured England in 2007 just before the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup.
The left-hander later scored 58 runs from 16 balls off Stuart Broad’s bowling during India’s quarter-final win against the same opposition at the T20 World Cup, leading his side to the semi-finals. Yuvraj was infuriated by England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff before he launched an assault against Broad.
Read - Chris Broad said I almost ended his son’s career: Yuvraj Singh recalls chat after hitting six sixes
Yuvraj, however, revealed he couldn’t sleep for days and that he was disheartened after being hit for five sixes by Mascarenhas.
Recalling their ODI against England in 2007 under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy during a Facebook live session on the Sony Ten Pit Stop show, Yuvraj said: “I was playing a game at the Oval and I don’t know why the captain [Dravid] gave me to bowl the last over. Dimitri Mascarenhas hit me for five sixes in six balls. I’m glad he didn’t hit me for six sixes and I couldn’t sleep for the next 15 days.”
“The calls and messages from my friends after that were really disheartening. I never got so many calls when I scored a hundred.”
By hitting Broad for six sixes in an over, the southpaw created history by becoming the first player to achieve the feat in a T20I game and remains the only Indian to do so. Yuvraj said he was finally relieved after what Mascarenhas had done to him earlier.
“Then I remember when I hit six sixes, I did not look at Broad or anyone, I looked at Dimitri and said, ‘This is over now, this is gone to bed’. It was very satisfying that I could do it against the same team,” he said.