Yuvraj Singh was born on 12 December 1981 in Chandigarh, India. He is a cricketer from India, and the son of former Indian fast bowler and Punjabi movie star Yograj Singh.

Yuvraj first came to attention when he captained the U-19 Punjab cricket team in the final of the Cooch-Behar Trophy against Bihar U-19s, in which he scored 358. He then gained selection for the U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in January 2000, where he was part of a team lead by Mohammed Kaif which won the tournament.

Yuvraj is primarily a left-handed batsman but can bowl part-time left-arm orthodox spin. He is regarded as being a better player of fast bowling than spin bowling, and cites the Indian Oil Cup 2005 as a turning point in his career. He is one of the better fielders in the Indian team, fielding primarily at point, with a good aim at the stumps. A Cricinfo report in late 2005 showed that since 1999, he was the fourth most prolific fielder in effecting ODI run outs, and of those on the list of prolific fielders, he had the second highest rate of effecting a run out. He was previously often characterized as having attitude problems, but now often assumes leadership positions whilst either captain Rahul Dravid or vice-captain Virender Sehwag are absent.

Yuvraj made his Test debut against New Zealand in Mohali in late 2003 in front of his home crowd in Punjab due to the absence of regular captain Sourav Ganguly in the No. 6 position. He was omitted upon Ganguly's return but got another another opportunity in the Test team in the 2004 Tour to Pakistan, when Ganguly was again injured. He scored his first Test century in a losing effort against Pakistan in the second Test at Lahore. When Ganguly returned for the third Test, Akash Chopra was dropped and it appeared that the Indian selectors wanted to give him a regular place in the team. He was subsequently played as Virender Sehwag's opening partner, but after two poor matches in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, he was dropped in favour of Gautam Gambhir. He was recalled to the Test team, batting in the No. 6 position for the away series against Zimbabwe in August 2005 after Sachin Tendulkar was sidelined with tennis elbow. He then retained his position in the Test team after Ganguly was axed following a row with coach Greg Chappell. He scored a second Test century in the third and final Test in Pakistan in the series in January 2006, which India again lost. However, Yuvraj has struggled subsequently in 2006, failing to pass 50 in six Tests against England (two, both at home) and the West Indies (four, all away from home).