<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/track_1x1.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
<\/p>\nPant fought off strong challenges from London\u2019s deep pockets who had paid, as the event\u2019s website said, as high as 12,450 pounds for a table that gave them \u2018exclusive access to Yuvraj\u2019, a cricket celebrity on the table, champagne reception, haute 3 course meal and complimentary wine, beer and spirits. Pant kept raising the paddle, and team mates well aware of his audacity and punts on the field kept shaking their heads and smiling. The bid battle was to be the presenter to an award for India\u2019s MVP Jasprit Bumrah<\/a>.A massive artwork with a real bat engraved into the painting, would be at the centre of the bidding frenzy.<\/p>\n Story continues below this ad<\/p>\n The other awardees, kind of Razzies not Oscars, included Pant, Ravindra Jadeja<\/a> and Kuldeep Yadav<\/a>. Pant for being the last to board the team bus, Kuldeep Yadav for perennially blaming \u2018bad times\u2019 for misfortunes and Jadeja to be the most persistent DRS requester.<\/p>\n \u201cActually, Mohammed Siraj<\/a> also thinks that whenever the ball hits the pad it is out. And once at the replay it\u2019s this far from stump,\u201d Shubman, who along with Gambhir were the jury, would say by spreading his hand about half a foot apart. The table with the Indian team would laugh the loudest. After the hard fought win at Edgbaston and a couple of days before the Lord\u2019s Test, the players were having fun in the company of their seniors and super seniors.<\/p>\n Yuvraj didn\u2019t miss the chance to pull the leg of his old team-mate, the very serious Gautam Gambhir. \u201cThere needs to be a bid on making Gambhir smile,\u201d he would say. The two old mates would chuckle. \u201cI would like to say here the decisions Gambhir and Ajit (chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar) had taken have played a big role in the team doing well,\u201d said Yuvraj.<\/p>\n Everyone who took the stage would share their Yuvraj memories \u2013 some joyous, some somber from the days of his fight against cancer. Sachin Tendulkar<\/a> would strike the perfect chord. \u201cBefore the start of the 2011 World Cup, Yuvraj\u2019s energy levels were not at their usual. So before our first game against Bangladesh I took him out for dinner and had a chat with him,\u201d Tendulkar said, recalling the meeting when Yuvraj vowed he would win the Cup for him.<\/p>\n Story continues below this ad<\/p>\n Kevin Pietersen would first speak about their on-field match-ups and those days when the left arm spinner would dismiss him as a bowler calling him \u2018pie-chucker. \u201cBut when he was recovering, I went to his home to be with my friend. He is a beautiful human being.\u201d<\/p>\n Shubman\u2019s memories were very recent. Not many years back, the now Indian captain, with his other teenaged budding cricketers in Chandigarh<\/a>, climbed the wall of the Mohali stadium to watch Yuvraj train. \u201cAfter his training we approached him and asked \u201cPhoto chahiye paaji (Want a picture)\u201d. His reply to us was \u2018Kabhi photo chahiye, kabhi helmet chahiye, kabhi pad, kabhi bat (Some days you want a picture, some day helmet, bat, pad \u2026 ).\u201d Shubman wouldn\u2019t stop smiling during his narration. Yuvraj mockingly locks his lips, trying hard to stop the giggle from escaping. \u201cThese young kids always cook up stories.\u201d<\/p>\n After the Indian team left, Virat, a London resident now, would enter the arena. He would be called on stage, the MC would tell him how much India misses him. \u201cI just coloured my beard two days back\u2026 when you start doing that after every four days, it is time,\u201d he said, stroking his chin.<\/p>\n