5 best catches of Yuvraj Singh

All of us who have seen Yuvraj Singh in the early 2000s after his debut know that he was then one of the best fielders in world cricket. It’s a different story now that he struggles for fitness with age and is quite a liability in the field.

But looking back at that time, Yuvraj was absolutely electric on the field as he made the backward point his zone, flying through the air to complete impossible catches.

Here are the 5 best catches ever taken by Yuvraj.

#5 Champions Trophy semi-final against South Africa, 2002

It is not for no reason that South Africa are infamously known as the chokers as they have faltered on many vital occasions to get over the line. They have always struggled in ICC events as they have thrown away their advantages on many occasions.

But none of those run chases on a big occasion were perhaps as suicidal as the semi-final match of the ICC Champions Trophy against India when they were chasing a modest total of 261.

Yuvraj Singh was the hero in that match for scoring a brilliant 62 down the order and taking two catches which turned the match on its head. The first of those was a typical Yuvraj Singh special, leaping away dismiss Graeme Smith off Zaheer Khan’s bowling.

The second one was more special perhaps because of the timing of it. South Africa were 194 for 1 off the 39th over, needing 68 runs off 71 balls to win when Jonty Rhodes mistimed a sweep off Harbhajan Singh to get a top edge.

Yuvraj who was fielding at short fine-leg, dashed across like a panther and dived to take a splendid one-handed catch to send back Rhodes. That triggered a collapse as South Africa lost 6 wickets and fell short of the Indian total by 10 runs in the end.