Former India skipper played one his finest knocks on the day that it mattered the most — the 2011 ICC ODI World Cup final. India were set a steep target of 275, a record-chase that had to be completed if India were to win their second ODI World Cup.
Yuvraj Singh has been named the Player of the Tournament, and his exploits with the bat during India’s World Cup campaign are well-known. The former all-rounder batted at number 5 throughout the tournament, but in the final, skipper MS Dhoni took a call of coming up the batting order ahead of Yuvraj, and that simply left almost everyone confused and dumbfounded.
Interestingly, Dhoni came in at a time when Muttiah Muralitharan was bowling in a good rhythm. The Sri Lankan legend has now revealed why Dhoni came in to bat ahead of Singh.
“I would say Dhoni read it towards the end when I was bowling to him in Chennai. I remember in the World Cup, Yuvraj didn’t have a clue on me.
He was supposed to come but I think because of me, Dhoni came (ahead of Yuvraj),”.
Muralitharan told ESPNcricinfo.
Dhoni and Muralitharan were part of Chennai Super Kings and have played a decent amount of cricket together in the past.
“Sachin (Tendulkar) definitely read it. I thought Rahul (Dravid) didn’t read it that well. (VVS) Laxman read it as well as (Gautam Gambir) Gambhir. (Virender) Sehwag I don’t know if he read it all the time.
When I bowled the doosra, I didn’t use the seam. So with the seam, you can’t see it, you will have to see it from my wrist.”
Muralitharan added.
