Precisely two weeks after Dimitri Mascarenhas had smashed him for five consecutive sixes at The Oval, Yuvraj went one better, becoming the first man to his six sixes in an over in Twenty20 internationals, at the expense of Stuart Broad.

"It is a great feeling for me personally," the Chandigarh left-hander said, after predictably being named man of the match. "To hit six sixes off a main bowler is no mean feat. After I got hit for those five sixes at The Oval, I had so many people calling me and messaging me — I must have got some 150 text messages, a lot more than when I hit a century!! People were making fun of me, so I it feels good to get my own back."

That six sixes in an over might have been on Yuvraj's mind when he strode out to bat is a far-fetched theory. "When I went in, we had only some three and a half overs to bat. We also had seven wickets in hand. I decided I must go out and play my strokes because there was no other option. It was only after the fourth six that the thought of six sixes occurred to me. After the fifth, I thought only one more to go, I really had nothing to lose at that point."  Before the competition, Yuvraj had been asked if he was working on innovative strokes with this format in mind. "I have enough strokes to play," he had replied confidently, almost cockily.

He showed that that was no empty boast with a display of tremendously correct ball-striking. "I just watched the ball closely and tried to hit as straight as possible. Fortunately, I connected all six," he said modestly. "I knew after a point that he would try and bowl a yorker. I was using the crease a fair bit to try and make the yorker into a half-volley." Yuvraj had a quick glance heavenward after six number five. What was going through his mind?  "I prayed to God to hopefully give me a sixth one. He heard me," he remarked, in all seriousness.

Until Wednesday, the 26-year-old had an ordinary tournament with the bat, triggering snide remarks that he was in the side as a left-arm spinner. "The problem in India is that if a player has one bad game, people begin to criticise him," Yuvraj retorted. "I was the second highest run-scorer in the one-day series in England, I was man of the match three games back. I really don't know what people expect. The day I feel I am a liability to the team, I will walk away. It feels good that, more than anything else, I contributed to the team's victory today,” he said.
Yuvraj had an exchange of words with Andrew Flintoff before that six-blitz against Broad. "That charged me up, for sure," he admitted. "It happens in international cricket, it's part of the game. We might be friends off the field, but on it, we are all very competitive. He said something, I wanted to give it back with the bat!"

Those six sixes catapulted Yuvraj alongside Sir Gary Sobers, Ravi Shastri and Herschelle Gibbs as the only men to hit a perfect six in senior cricket. His thoughts on being in the same league as Sobers? "A lot of people have told me that I bat like him, but I am not even halfway there. It does feel great to be in the same league as him, at least in this regard."