NEW DELHI: Thursday's ICC Champions Trophy semi-final between India and Bangladesh in Birmingham will carry a little more for one member of the defending champions' squad: Yuvraj Singh , who will play his 300th ODI He will be the fifth Indian cricketer - and 19th overall - to reach the landmark. Sachin Tendulkar leads the list with 463 ODI appearances, followed by Rahul Dravid (340), Mohammad Azharuddin (334) and Sourav Ganguly (308).Yuvraj, 35, has been part of several successful Indian campaigns at ICC events, topmost of which was his star all-round run during the 2011 World Cup. As his ODI career flourished, he played many match-winning innings which made him into one of the team's middle-order pillars during the 2000s; among his memorable knocks are an unbeaten 50 to help beat Pakistan during the 2003 World Cup, 62 off 72 balls in the semi-final of the 2002 Champions Trophy in Colombo, 69 in the final of the NatWest Trophy at Lord's in 2002, and a sequence of 82*, 79* and 107* in Pakistan in 2006. Then came his crowning glory - the 2011 World Cup, where he was a pivotal figure for MS Dhoni's victorious team with 362 runs at an average of 90.50 and 15 wickets resulting in Yuvraj being adjudged Player of the Tournament.Earlier this year, against England in January, Yuvraj scored his first ODI century since the 2011 World Cup when he smashed a career-best 150 off 127 balls. India's next assignment after the Champions Trophy is a tour of the West Indies which encompasses five ODIs a one T20I.

Source: Times of India June 13, 2017 08:33 UTC