On this day: Yuvraj Singh’s bizzare dismissal on his Global T20 debut

The BCCI does not allow Indian cricketers to play in overseas T20 leagues. So when Yuvraj Singh made his debut in the Global T20 Canada tournament, it was a special occasion. On 25th July 2019, the Indian batting legend who had announced his retirement before a while, became the first male Indian cricketer to play in a foreign T20 league. However, his debut innings ended in a bizarre fashion.

Captaining the Toronto Nationals side, Yuvraj lost the loss and his team had to bat first. After the wicket of Calum MacLeod, the Indian batsman strode out to bat with the scoreboard reading 52/2 in 8.5 overs. The left-hander failed to get going and was visibly troubled by his ailing back.

The strange dismissal

With only four overs remaining in the innings, Yuvraj tried his best to up the ante. On the second ball of the 17th over, the left-hander attempted an audacious slog. He failed to establish any sort of contact with the ball. The wicketkeeper Visee fumbled while collecting but somehow the ball ricocheted back on the stumps and dislodged the bails while the batsman was imbalanced.

Batting on 14 runs from 27 balls, Yuvraj walked back to the pavilion without waiting for the decision or the replays. The umpire also raised his finger without watching the replay. Later, when the dismissal was played on the big screen, everyone realised the blunder. Yuvraj’s back leg was in the crease when the bails were dislodged. Thus the Indian batsman should have batted on.

Playing for Toronto Nationals in opening match of Global T20 Canada,Yuvraj Singh walked off despite being not out.The 37-year-old was stumped in Vancouver Knights’ bowler Rizwan Cheema’s over after wicketkeeper dropped catch on stumps.Yuvraj was still in crease as per the replays pic.twitter.com/KztPLtQoI1

— tv9gujarati (@tv9gujarati) July 26, 2019

However, it was too late by then as Kieron Pollard had already made his way towards the pitch. The West Indian batsman smashed 30 runs from just 13 balls and carried the team to a final score of 159/5. It was inadequate against Vancouver Knights who went past the target in the 18th over itself. Chadwick Walton and Rassie Van der Dussen celebrated their fifties in the winning effort.