Mumbai, Jun 10 (UNI) The 2011 World Cup Man of the Tournament, Yuvraj Singh, ups and downs during his 17-years-long international career, finally announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket here on Monday.
Announcing his retirement here, he said that 'the game has given him everything.'
"After 25 years, I have decided to move on. Cricket has given me everything and is the reason why I stand here today," the 37-year-old said here at a press conference.
The Southpaw, who made his international debut in an ODI match against Kenya in October 2000 in erstwhile ICC Knock out (now ICC Champions Trophy), went on to play 304 ODIs, 40 Tests and 58 T20Is for the country.
"I was extremely lucky to play 400 games for my country. I could have never imagined it when I first started playing cricket," the cricketer added.
He said he had never stopped in believing himself.
"I made some great friends and some not so great friends in cricket over the years. I have never stopped believing in myself," the 2011 World Cup Man of the Tournament said.
The cricketer, who helped India to end a long 28-year wait for the World Cup, smashed six sixes in an over off England's Stuart Broad in the maiden T20 World Cup, helping India to win the T20 championships, his first Test hundred, against Pakistan in Lahore in 2004 and the 2002 NatWest series final, as the four moments which he chose as his best moments in his international career that lasted 17 years (2000-2017).
He was diagnosed with the cancer in 2011-12 in America. Talking about the decease he said, "I was not going to let that disease defeat me."
He last played for India in ODI and T20 in 2017, while he wore whites for the last time in 2012.
Yuvraj played his first Test in 2003, but it turned out to be a format that he couldn't quite get a hold of - as evidenced by the meagre 40 Test caps he received. However, in ODI, he was considered as one of the best players.
He scored 5,048 runs at an average of 38, that included 14 hundreds and 52 fifties. In his second appearance in ODI, he scored 84 runs against Australia and helped India to win the match. He also took 111 wickets in ODI.

In T20, he proved to be an asset in the shortest format as well, scoring 1,177 runs with a career strike rate of 136.38 in the 58 T20Is.
In IPL, in the last edition of the tournament, he played for Mumbai Indians, who won the championships. The franchise bought him for just one crore and he played just four matches for the team.
In 2011, World Cup, which was held in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, he scored 362 runs in the showpiece event- hitting four fifties and a century - while he also chipped in with the ball as he took 15 wickets, the second-best tally for an Indian in that edition of the World Cup after Zaheer Khan.
During his post cancer life, he endured a four-year lay-off between 2013 and 2017, Yuvraj made another comeback - this time in the home series against England in 2017 in Virat Kohli's first as full-time captain. During the series he scored his highest ODI score 150 Cuttack, Odisha.
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