Yuvraj Singh's 60-ball 80 was a gem. When he came in to bat in the 32nd over, India needed 110 runs to win at more than six-an-over. He contributed a whopping 70.8% of the runs scored when he was at the crease. The most striking aspect of his innings was that he played with equal ease against pace or spin, and on the front foot or back. He hammered 38 runs off 27 balls against the seamers – a strike-rate of 140.7%. Against the spin of Doug Marillier and Grant Flower, he made 42 off 33 balls, a marginally lower scoring rate of 127%. He scored 29 from 25 balls when playing forward, and 39 from 30 deliveries off the back foot.

The ability to play straight was impressive too. Only 20% of his runs came behind the wicket. His most productive shot was the flowing drive through mid-on; not surprisingly, 35 out of his 80 runs were scored in the V between mid-on and mid-off.

Could Zimbabwe's bowlers have done anything to curb him? Not much, going by these stats. They bowled on middle stump or further offside 75% of the time (45 balls out of 60), but Yuvraj managed 57 runs off those deliveries. His strike rate off good-length balls was 123.4%.

He scored 38 of his runs in boundaries, but didn't miss out on singles and twos either, playing only 19 dot balls. His ability to find the gaps was demonstrated by the fact that he ran 10 twos – twice as many as any other Indian batsman, and one more than Andy Flower in Zimbabwe's innings.

His knock ensured that both teams go to Guwahati with everything to play for.

S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com India

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