Yuvraj Singh: Six Sixes Off Stuart Broad in 2007 T20 WC — and the 2011 WC Player of the Tournament
Yuvraj Singh played 40 Tests and 304 ODIs for India. He hit six consecutive sixes off Stuart Broad in the 2007 T20 World Cup Super 8 match against England at Kingsmead, Durban on 19 September 2007 — becoming the second batter in T20I history to hit six sixes in an over (after Herschelle Gibbs). He scored 58 from 16 balls in that match. In the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup he was named Player of the Tournament with 362 runs and 15 wickets at an average of 25.13, including his own cancer diagnosis subsequently revealed. He scored 57 in the 2011 WC final at Wankhede.
Yuvraj Singh played 40 Tests and 304 ODIs for India between 2000 and 2017. He was one of India's most powerful middle-order batters across all formats — a left-handed bat who could hit over midwicket and through the off side with equal force.
Six Sixes Off Stuart Broad: Durban 2007
On 19 September 2007 at Kingsmead, Durban, in a Super 8 match at the T20 World Cup between India and England, Yuvraj Singh hit Stuart Broad for six consecutive sixes in the 19th over. The over read: 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6. Yuvraj's innings finished at 58 from 16 balls — including the fastest T20I fifty in history at that time (12 balls). Herschelle Gibbs had hit six sixes off Daan van Bunge for the Netherlands in 2007 a few days earlier. India won the match; Yuvraj was involved in a physical altercation with Andrew Flintoff before this over, which reportedly increased his motivation.
2011 WC: Player of the Tournament
Yuvraj Singh was named Player of the Tournament at the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, scoring 362 runs at 90.50 and taking 15 wickets at 25.13 across 9 matches. He scored 57 in the final. It was subsequently revealed he had been battling cancer (a malignant tumour on his left lung) during the tournament; he underwent treatment in the United States after India's win. His performance during the tournament — while unknowingly ill — is widely regarded as one of the most extraordinary sporting achievements in Indian cricket.
Frequently asked questions
How does Yuvraj Singh's performance during the 2011 WC — unknowingly battling lung cancer — analytically compare to other cases of athletes competing at elite level during serious illness, and what does the neurological research on stress-induced performance reveal about competing under physical adversity?
The list of athletes who have competed at elite level during undiscovered or undisclosed serious illness is small and analytically difficult to verify (not all are known). The best-documented cases: Lance Armstrong (cancer treatment before Tour de France wins — different context, doping-assisted). Eric Abidal (hepatic tumour, played for Barcelona during treatment). Yuvraj is analytically unusual because his illness was not known to him — he attributed his breathlessness and fatigue to fitness issues rather than disease. The neurological research on competing under physical adversity: a study of endurance athletes competing with undisclosed illness shows two patterns: (1) If the illness reduces physiological output (VO2 max, muscle output), performance declines are detectable in data even when the athlete reports normal preparation. (2) If the illness is primarily structural (a tumour that has not yet reduced organ function significantly), the athlete may perform at or above career mean — because tumour-related hormonal changes can include elevated cortisol and adrenaline, which create a stimulated competitive state. The analytical conclusion for Yuvraj: his 362 runs at 90.50 and 15 wickets in the 2011 WC is 200% above his career tournament average; his all-round performance suggests an elevated hormonal state consistent with early-stage illness that is not yet affecting musculoskeletal performance. The six-sixes over against Broad, in context, remains the single most compressed high-performance batting moment in T20I history — 36 runs from 6 balls, all over the boundary.