A day after 2011 World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh announced his retirement from international cricket, veteran India bowler Harbhajan Singh recalled how he became friends with the 37-year-old. In an article on ESPNcricinfo, Singh talked about the time a teenage Yuvraj would come in his car to the training session and performed the role of a ‘DJ’ afterwards.

“In Patiala, where most of our Under-16 cricket was played, he would park his car just outside where the team was put up and every few days we would set up our own disco. The Maruti dicky (boot) would be opened up, Yuvi was our DJ, he would switch on his superb music system or connect his CD player to the car speaker, and we would dance to Punjabi songs on the road. Just a bunch of kids, away from home, having fun,” the 38-year-old wrote.

The off-spinner further recalled how Yuvraj reacted to Harbhajan’s rising popularity after he became a part of India national team.

“I got to play for India before Yuvi did and the first time I went to Chandigarh, it was after my India debut and his U-19 World Cup win; of course it meant I’d been seen more on TV and he, a local boy, had not, and so naturally people came up to me and recognised me and this was in his town. Yuvi, competitive as ever, was astonished, “Gosh, you are getting recognised a lot,” he wrote.

Harbhajan further talked about the incident when a girl approached him at a restaurant on Rose Day in front of Yuvraj.

“At a restaurant once, on what was Rose Day, a girl came up to me and gave me a rose and Yuvi said, “How did you get the rose? Good looking toh main hoon (I’m the good looking one) but you’re the one who has got it.” I felt a bit sheepish but did say “yaar, what can I do. I’ve been on TV and so that’s how I guess,” he said.

“He did play for India and after that, uska roz day (every day) was Rose Day. He was a hit among the girls more than any of us,” the bowler added.

Harbhajan further defined Yuvraj as the “leader of the generation in terms of parties”. “I thank God I didn’t go to too many parties with him, but our names were stuck together,” he said. “But please note, I took Yuvi to gurudwaras and he would take me to parties. Who is the more religious now, do tell. To be fair, he has become a lot more spiritual now than he used to be,” he further added.

The Chennai Super Kings star went on to talk about the night India lifted the World Cup trophy in 2011 at Wankhede Stadium. “The night we won the World Cup together, we cried, both of us, not massively, but we did. Everyone else was crying and so when one guy went, the others also followed through. But to me, I think the biggest thing Yuvi did was win us the World Cup. If I have two medals - one each for 2007 and 2011 - both belong to Yuvraj Singh,” he said.

First Published: Jun 11, 2019 13:28 IST