London, January 1
His “ego, bank balance and waistline” have all swollen in recent years but his performance has deserted him, wrote The Daily Telegraph today about the Indian cricket star and Chandigarh boy Yuvraj Singh. The swipe was made in a piece on the “top 10 sporting egos” of recent times.

The talented and temperamental batsman last year lost his place in the Indian Test squad because of his poor form. The British newspaper, while making the unflattering reference, insinuates that Yuvraj’s ego was inflated by the ‘moolah from the Indian Premier League’.

“The wonderfully talented teenager got lost in the ‘tamasha’ which accompanied the IPL...lost his rag completely last summer when , as India’s 12th man in Colombo, Sri Lankan fans mocked him as waterboy,” the newspaper added. The twitter biography says it all, it pointed out : “Cricketer, celebrity, entrepreneur, budding philanthropist aka Yuvi”.

Yuvraj has a fellow cricketer for company,in the list, in former England captain Kevin Pietersen who claimed last week that his selfless resignation from the skipper’s job is what led to England’s Ashes victory in Australia. It is not for nothing that Shane Warne described Pietersen as “The walking ego” a few months ago.

“There is no doubt that Pietersen’s flamboyance and arrogance have contributed to his downfall on a number of occasions, most notably when he reaches 94 ( runs) and starts looking for the photographers,” the newspaper wrote about him. Switch hits and tattoos, Lamborghinis and Liberty-X--Kevin Pietersen is indeed a very different type of English cricketer.

Others in the list include boxing legend Muhammad Ali, basketball great Michael Jordan, golf legend Nick Faldo and Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho.

The amusing take on the boxing legend said, “ Back when he was Cassius Clay, the legendary boxer said, “ I am handsome, I am fast, I am pretty and can’t possibly be beaten”. Fond of predicting the round he would knock out opponents, Ali once said of Golf, “ I am the best; I just haven’t played yet.” — Agencies