Yuvraj Singh, a year on from his international retirement, has revealed that he wasn’t sleeping well leading up to his retirement, and that a year on from drawing curtains on a glorious career, he’s “mentally free”.

Yuvraj announced his retirement from all formats in June 2019, after a stellar career that peaked with his starring role in India’s World Cup triumph in 2011. The all-rounder struggled to hit the same levels towards the final years of his career, with injuries and poor form ensuring his last India appearance came in 2017.

He has now revealed that playing the sport was such a struggle towards the latter years, it affected his mental health. “I had got to a stage where actually cricket was not helping me mentally,” he told Gaurav Kapur in a conversation on YouTube centred around the work of Yuvraj’s foundation YouWeCan.

“I always wanted to play cricket, but it was not helping me [be] in a good state of mind. I was just dragging myself… ‘When do I have to retire? Should I retire? Should I not retire?’”

Since his retirement, Yuvraj said he is feeling “free” and content. “I miss the game sometimes, but more often, I don’t. I played for so many years. Basically, I get a lot of messages from fans, lot of love and adulation, I feel very blessed.

“More than anything, that respect the game has given you. If you’re at a stage in life where you’re happy with that respect that you’ve earned for the last 20 years, it’s the right time to move on. The day I retired, I was free. It was a very emotional moment, because … I can’t put in words. But I felt really free after that. Mentally, I felt good.

“I hadn’t slept properly for many years. I started to sleep really well. It’s a year now, I was so relaxed. During the playing days, I wouldn’t realise the time going, the years flew by. But it’s been quite good.”