One highlight of the 2011 ODI World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka in Mumbai was skipper MS Dhoni coming out to bat ahead of Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj had been in superb form but Dhoni was the one who came at the fall of Virat Kohli’s wicket with the score on 114/3 in 21.4 overs. Now over 14 years later, Sachin Tendulkar has revealed an unheard tale about the truth behind why Dhoni went out ahead of Yuvraj.
Sachin Tendulkar Reveals Truth Behind MS Dhoni’s PromotionThe revelation came during an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session on Reddit. An user asked "Hi Sachin. Viru revealed that it was your idea to promote MSD ahead of Yuvi in the CWC final. Is that true and what was the reason behind such a strategic change?"
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Sachin’s answer was not direct. He said that a left-right combination would make life difficult for the two off-spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Suraj Randiv. He also spoke of Dhoni’s experience against Muralitharan since ‘Captain Cool’ had faced the legend in the nets quite a bit from 2008 to 2010 when they played in CSK together.
"There were 2 reasons (behind his idea to promote Dhoni up the order). The left-right batting combination would have upset the two off-spinners, also Muralitharan had played for CSK (from 2008-2010) and MS had played him for 3 seasons in the nets," he said.
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It proved to be a masterstroke. Dhoni replaced Kohli (35) at the crease with 161 needed from 170. He put on 109 with Gautam Gambhir (97) and an unbroken stand of 54 with Yuvraj (21*). Dhoni also hit the winning runs as India won by six wickets and with 10 balls to spare. He himself slammed 91 not out from 79 balls with eight fours and two sixes. The pose of ‘Thala’ after the winning six is part of cricketing folklore as India ended a 28-year wait.
Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI World Cup Dream FulfilledFor Sachin, the monkey was finally off his back as the elusive ODI World Cup was finally won. It was his sixth and last edition. He was India’s top-scorer with 482 runs in nine games at an average of 53.55. He hit two centuries and two fifties to finish as the second highest run-scorer in that edition after Tillakaratne Dilshan (500). He would retire from ODIs in 2012 and from international cricket in 2013.
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