Yuvraj Singh's retirement came as a surprise to his fans. Ditto former India cricketer Reetinder Singh Sodhi. Hailing from the same state of Punjab, Sodhi and Yuvraj played a lot of cricket together since their childhood.

"He was optimistic about his comeback to the Indian team. He was fighting for it. I met him in the Maldives before this year's IPL but he didn't mention anything about retirement. Maybe, he thought this is the right time," Sodhi, 38, told mid-day yesterday.