Facing England pacer Stuart Broad, irked by Andrew Flintoff and with an eye on Dimitri Mascarenhas midway through the over, it’s a story that has so many other stories intertwined and brings about a different flavour every year when September 19 arrives.
Getting hit for 6 sixes in an over is one of the most unwanted records for a bowler, while Flintoff rued getting Yuvraj pumped up with a heated argument, and Yuvi hit a six more than he was hit for as a bowler by Mascarenhas not too long ago.
Talking to ICC about the historic moment in a video interview some time ago, the ODI and T20 World Cup winner mentioned an interesting conversation with Dhoni, who was Yuvraj’s partner at the crease and enjoyed watching him hit all six deliveries out of the park.
“After I hit the final six, MS said to me ‘everytime you come out to bat after me, your strike rate is double’,” Yuvraj had revealed.
THE VERBAL DUEL WITH FLINTOFF
Talking about his altercation with the big-frame England all-rounder, Yuvraj said: “Freddie (Flintoff) bowled two really good balls actually and on the last ball of the 18th over, I took a single (and the two exchanged a few words after Yuvi completed the run). I was like ‘I am sorry, what did you say?’
“Obviously I was angry, then the umpire came in…I was so furious that I just wanted to hit every ball out of the ground,” he added.
“The first ball went out of the park. I remember hitting this one without even realising how big that hit is.”
But the duo left that altercation on the field.
“The great thing about Freddie is he talked about it after the game and shook hands, and that is why I have a lot of respect for Flintoff,” Yuvraj said.
‘I HAD FIVE SIXES ON MIND’
After hitting Broad for sixes off five balls, Yuvraj was on the verge of history. But the southpaw had already taken his revenge and was smiling. The sixth maximum was a bonus and icing on the cake.
“I had actually 5 sixes in my mind since I was hit for 5 sixes by Dimitri Mascarenhas in the final over of the 2007 Oval ODI. It was very demeaning as well. You don’t want to get hit for 5 sixes. I had been in this place and getting hit for 5 sixes is not a good feeling,” he said.
“If you will see (the footage), there was a smile on my face at that moment (after hitting five sixes), and that smile was for Dimitri.”
He then narrated the scenes before the final ball of Broad’s over.
“I was like Dimitri was standing at deep mid-wicket and Flintoff was at deep square leg. I know where he was standing. Here what happened was Broad actually switched to over the stumps at the last moment. When he did that, in my mind I was like I knew where he was going to bowl. I was ready that it was going to be a full yorker towards my legs, and I just wanted to get my bat on it.”
Yuvraj’s blistering innings came to an end when he was caught at long-on off the penultimate delivery of the final over, having amassed a stunning 58 runs from a mere 16 balls, including the fastest fifty at that time in just 12 balls. That record stood for 14 years, until Nepal’s Dipendra Singh Airee broke it at the Asian Games last year with a 9-ball fifty in a match against Mongolia.
Yuvraj’s explosive knock proved decisive, as India went on to secure a 20-run victory and later won the T20 World Cup with a thrilling win over archrivals Pakistan in the final.
