Dhoni reveals why he batted ahead of Yuvraj in 2011 World cup finals

Former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has revealed why he batted ahead of Yuvraj Singh in the 2011 world cup finals. The reason given by Dhoni has a CSK connection as he said that he had played most of the Sri Lankan bowlers at IPL and hence promoted himself in the batting order.

Was confident that I will score runs freely: Dhoni

The Indian batsman was speaking with the media during an event at Dongargaon when he threw light on what is now hailed as one of the best decisions he ever took as a captain.

Dhoni revealed that he knew most of the bowlers of Sri Lanka as they were part of the Chennai Super Kings earlier. He explained that he promoted himself because Muralitharan was bowling at that time and he played Murali a lot in the CSK nets.

Dhoni stated that he was confident that he will be able to score runs freely against Murali and that was one of the main reasons why he pushed himself up the order during the final.

What happened in the 2011 world Cup finals?

India were chasing a stiff total against a spirited Sri Lankan bowling attack and lost the openers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag very early in the innings.

Number four batsman Virat Kohli departed soon and India were in a tight position when Dhoni decided to promote himself at number five instead of Yuvraj Singh.

It was an interesting move as Yuvraj was India’s best player in the tournament and even went on to win the man-of-the-series award while Dhoni was out of form during the tournament.

However the then Indian captain produced one of the best knocks in a world-cup final and steered India to a win by scoring 93 not out. And he finished off the game with a six over long-on which has become the talking point of the 2011 world cup flocklore.

I changed the way selectors perceived wicket-keeper captains: Dhoni

At the same time Dhoni mentioned that before him, selectors were quite reluctant to make stumper as captain saying he will be burdened too much.

But according to the India cricketer, he changed their view with his successful tenure as the captain.

Also read: Mithali’s manager calls Harmanpreet, ‘Manipulative, Lying and immature’

Dhoni believes that the keeper is in the best position to help any captain analyse the match. He is very close to the action and can accordingly guide the team leader about many things.

Dhoni further added that a wicket-keeper is an asset for any captain. He can release the burden on the captain with his inputs.