Veteran England fast bowler Stuart Broad announced that the ongoing fifth Test match of the Ashes series will be his final match for England in international cricket on Saturday (July 29). Broad is set to retire after having played 167 Test matches and has 602 wickets to his credit already with one final innings remaining in which he will bowl for the Three Lions. While he will retire as one of the greats for England, when asked to share his thoughts on the 2007 T20 World Cup match against India where he was taken to the cleaners by Yuvraj Singh who slammed six sixes in an over against him, Broad said that it was the experience of that match that made him into a competitor that he is.
"Yeah, it (getting hit for six sixes by Yuvraj Singh) was obviously a pretty tough day. What would I have been 21, 22? I learnt loads. I pretty much based a whole mental routine through that experience knowing that I was left very short as an international performer in that moment. I'd rushed my preparation, I didn't have any sort of pre-ball routine. I didn't have any focus particularly and I started building my "warrior mode" that I call it after that experience," Broad told reporters at a media conference.
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"So ultimately, of course I wish that didn't happen. I think what really helped me was it was a dead rubber so it didn't feel like I'd knocked us out of the World Cup or something. But I think it steeled me up to make me the competitor that I am to this day and has driven me forward a huge amount. You obviously go through massive peaks and troughs and when you look at someone like Stokesy's (Ben Stokes) career, he's done that sort of thing as well. Most players have. But ultimately I think it's that bouncebackability and that ability to be able to put poor days behind you because certainly one thing over the past whatever, 15, 16 years you have a lot more bad days than good days in cricket so you have to be able to deal with them to make sure your good days can flourish," he added.
Talking about that 2007 fixture, Yuvraj smashed the fastest fastest half-century in a T20I, getting to the landmark off 12 balls and ultimately scoring 58 off 16 as India posted 218/4 in Durban. In response, England managed 200/6. Broad's match figures read 4-0-60-0. Ultimately, he finishes his T20I career with 56 T20Is in which he scalped 65 wickets at an economy of under 8. In 121 ODIs, he has another 178 wickets to his credit apart from his incredible numbers in the game's purest format.