Yuvraj Singh

Calcutta: Sachin Tendulkar is known as The Master not just for his cricketing skills. It is also because of his perfect image off the field.

Millions idolise the icon. He is an institution, encompassing within himself the ideal qualities of a cricketer and a human being. And not only the common man, Sachin is loved and respected by his teammates as well.

Take the case of Yuvraj Singh. Talent has never been an issue with Yuvraj. But to be a successful sportsman, having talent is not everything.

Being humble, patient and respecting the game also carry a lot of importance. And Yuvraj, who was the star of India’s 2011 World Cup triumph, learned those things from none other than Sachin himself.

Yuvraj has revealed in a promotional video of Puma Cricket Studio how Sachin was annoyed with him after the left-hander had abused his cricket equipment following a poor performance.

“It was against Australia and we were playing in Mumbai and I did not get too many runs. I came in and hit my bat on the floor and broke it into pieces. Sachin looked at me and he was quite annoyed. He told me you earn your money, you earn your food because of cricket… So, don’t ever do that again and I never did that again,” Yuvraj said, with Adam Gilchrist by his side.

Both Yuvraj and Gilchrist talk on a array on topics in the video.

Besides picking the 2011 World Cup win was the best moment in his cricketing career, Yuvraj revealed his funniest moment too. “It was in Bangladesh, Virat (Kohli) diving on the field and losing his pants and he was not wearing too much underneath,” Yuvraj said.

He also narrated a Zaheer Khan episode as one the funniest incidents he experienced. “Once with Zaheer Khan… The batsman hit the shot and Zaheer said ‘mine, mine’, and suddenly the ball went the other way… Then he said yours. I remember Suresh Raina dropping it, so that was too a funny moment.”

The 31-year-old picked teammate Virat Kohli as the most “irritating” person in the team bus. “The most irritating would be Virat Kohli… He asks too many questions, not about cricket, but other things in life,” Yuvraj said.

Gilchrist, meanwhile, termed South African Herschelle Gibbs’s premature celebration of Steve Waugh’s catch in the 1999 World Cup as a game-changing moment.

“In the ’99 World Cup, when Steve hit one to Gibbs, he caught it and then tried to throw it up and dropped it. The amazing thing about that was the night before at the team meeting, Shane Warne said if you hit a catch to, don’t walk. He tries to throw them up too early and drops them… It happened the next day,” Gilchrist recalled.

“Steve, of course, went on to get a hundred. We won and we went on to win the World Cup. If we had lost that game, we were out. That was the game and tournament changing moment,” former Australia wicketkeeper-batsman added.

According to Gilchrist, former teamamte Glenn McGrath was the most irritating teammate. “Glenn was definitely the most irritating... Whenever you are doing a press interaction, McGrath would be standing somewhere at the back throwing grapes or apples or some sort of fruit and hitting you on the head when you are trying to talk on camera,” Gilchrist revealed.

“Darren Lehmann, who is the coach of our team Kings XI Punjab (in the IPL) was another... His snoring was diabolical,” he added.