Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif v England, 69 and 87 not out - 10 Great Innings

So again we're bending the rules. It's two players.

It was the final of the Natwest Series, a one-day competition featuring England, India and Sri Lanka. Amazingly, England had got to the final. Even more amazingly, they had set India 326 to win off 50 overs. Marcus Trescothick hit a hundred and so did Nasser Hussain. It was Hussain's only one-day hundred and the occasion when he 'gestured' at the press. It was something about batting at three. It was all a bit vague.

India started their reply reasonably well, but eventually fell to 146-5. They were 180 runs adrift with two young middle-order batsmen at the crease, Yuvraj Singh, then 20 and Mohammad Kaif, then 21. Perhaps England felt they'd done the hard work by getting down to India's sixth and seventh batsmen; two relative novices. If they thought they'd won the game, they were wrong.

What followed were two of the most perfect one-day innings imaginable. They were the kinds of innings that would be jaw-dropping if they came from 200 cap veterans. They were calm, played themselves in and raised their tempo as the run-rate climbed. Many a player before and since would have balked at the target and given up. Not these two.

Yuvraj Singh was out for 69, but Mohammad Kaif saw India home with 87 not out. Any batsman could have picked up tips as to how to go about a run-chase. These unflappable wise men were 20 and 21.

10 Great Innings

Yuvraj Singh's coming into form again

One of our many rash pronouncements was that Yuvraj Singh was the best one-day international batsman in the world. To be fair, at the time, he was. It was just that immediately after we'd written that article he continuously and resolutely wasn't.

Well he's flickering into life again just in time for the tour of England. He's rediscovered that happy knack of being not out at the end of Indian one-day victories.

Yesterday he hit an unbeaten 61 as India chased down 152 in a reduced 31 over match against South Africa and on Friday he saw them home with 49 not out against the same opponents - this time chasing 227 off the full 50 overs.

If Yuvraj Singh does become the best one-day batsman in the world, hopefully some of his best-in-the-worldness will rub off on us and we'll discover our first skill. It's rubbish not having a skill.

Yuvraj Singh departs the World Cup

Along with the rest of the Indian team. They can't really complain. If you've realistic hopes of winning the World Cup you don't lose two of your opening three matches - whoever they're against. Bangladesh completed their predicted win over Bermuda, so now it's official. India are out.

It was a tricky group with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, but world champions are supposed to be better than everyone else. That's rather the point. India aren't world champions.

Our Indian player to watch was Yuvraj Singh. He didn't disgrace himself with 47 in the defeat to Bangladesh and a rollicking 83 off 46 balls against Bermuda. On the other hand, should that 47 have been more? And his run-out against Sri Lanka was demented.

Seven World Cup players to watch remain.

Yuvraj Singh hits lightning quick fifty

Maybe Virender Sehwag scored more, maybe Sachin Tendulkar scored faster and maybe it was against Bermuda. So what? Yuvraj Singh scored faster than Virender Sehwag, scored more than Sachin Tendulkar and he hit seven sixes as well.

Mostly it's because we're watching Yuvraj Singh though and you can't argue that 83 off 46 balls wasn't worth watching.

India made 413 and bowled Bermuda out for 156. David Hemp of Glamorgan hit a really very respectable 76 not out for Bermuda.

Yuvraj Singh, India - World Cup player to watch

It would be a spineless dereliction of duty if we abandoned Yuvraj Singh now. We once called him the best one-day international batsman in the world.

If we didn't name him as a player to watch and then he had a great World Cup, we'd be kicking ourself as much as that time we rolled through a red light outside the police station because we'd got side-tracked watching a cat cross the road (this is a true story - we're occasionally a bit oblivious to the world around us).

He can hit sixes and he can work the ball around. We always end up repeating ourself on updates like this, because we're effectively summing up stuff we've already written. No more. We're naming him. He's good*. Let's leave it at that.

* We've recently developed an aversion to any positive adjective stronger than 'good'. This does not bode well for our World Cup coverage.

Yuvraj Singh's back in form

Remember when we called Yuvraj Singh the best one-day international batsman in the world? He was at the time, but he's been off the boil of late.

Today he hit 95 off 83 balls as India, playing Sri Lanka, chased down 260 with ease. We hope he's the best player in the World Cup, because then we'll have been right about something and the spell will be broken...