Team India have won its first World Cup under Kapil Dev’s leadership way back in 1983 and after 28 long years, they won it again under MS Dhoni, who played a key part in India’s win on April 2, 2011. Apart from him, Gautam Gambhir (97 in the final) and Yuvraj Singh throughout the tournament were phenomenal.
Recalling the iconic final at the Wankhede, India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, who was awarded the Player of the Tournament, revealed why MS Dhoni promoted himself up the batting order.
“Mahi going to bat ahead of me in the 2011 World Cup final was more of a team decision, I think. When Virat and Gautam were in the middle of a decent partnership, a conversation had happened in the dressing room,” Yuvraj said on Home of Heroes on Sports18. “Viru, Sachin, Gary and Mahi may have had a discussion and planned that a left-right combination is needed in the middle because two off-spinners were bowling at that time. It was decided that if Virat gets out Mahi will go in the middle and if Gautam gets out, I will bat next.”
Under Dhoni’s captaincy, India lost only one match in the mega event against South Africa whereas they defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the semi-final to set up a blockbuster finale with Sri Lanka as well.
However, Yuvraj Singh also opened up on how a player’s performance improves when they have the much-needed backing of the captain and coach as well.
“Look at Mahi (MS Dhoni) towards the end of his career. He had so much support from Virat and Ravi Shastri. They took him to the World Cup, he played till the end, and went on to play 350 games. I think support is very important but in Indian cricket everybody will not get support,” Yuvraj further added.
Meanwhile, the former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has also recalled an incident from the T20 World Cup final in 2014 when he wasn’t at his best. He had a rather forgettable World Cup final when he scored 11 from 21 balls and faced criticism too.
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