Ganguly, Harbhajan wish Yuvraj on 300th ODI

Kolkata, June 15 (IANS) Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Thursday hoped Yuvraj Singh will play the 2019 World Cup before calling it a day ahead of his 300th One-day International (ODI) against Bangladesh in the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final in Birmingham.

"@YUVSTRONG12 just so proud of everything u achieved ..300th game big milestone ..another World Cup to go before u get old," Ganguly, who is also in England doing commentary, tweeted moments before the high-voltage game began at Edgbaston.

Harbhajan Singh, who won the 2011 World Cup with Yuvraj under skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, said in a video message: " Hello friends. Today, I am going to talk about someone very special, who is very close to my heart -- my friend, my brother -- Yuvraj Singh.

"Yuvi is playing his 300th match for India today. It is a big achievement. Congratulations Yuvi for playing all these years and these many games! When we were young, we never thought that I would play 100 Tests and you 300 ODI matches. God has been really kind to us! And our friendship has remained the same."

"You are a true champion Yuvi! You are a winner both in life and on field. And I hope you achieve victory even in your 300th match today and I pray that you are declared the Man of the Match! God bless you brother! I am really proud of you," Harbhajan said.

Yuvraj has become only the fifth Indian cricketer to play over 300 ODIs. Besides the 2011 World Cup, where Yuvraj was adjudged Man-of-the-Series for his stellar show throughout the tournament, the dashing left-hander known for his clean hitting of the cricket ball won the 2007 T20 World Cup where he hit England pacer Stuart Broad for six sixes in a single over.

Yuvraj has so far amassed 8,622 runs from his 299 ODIs, scoring 14 hundreds and 52 fifties.