The memories of the 2011 World Cup are still afresh in every cricket fan’s minds. Though it has been nine years to that iconic in of Team India but it still feels like the match took place yesterday. Recently, India celebrated the ninth anniversary of India’s iconic win on April 2nd, 2020 and social media made everyone nostalgic as it was flooded with pictures and posts regarding the same.
Recently, Indian cricketer, Suresh Raina recently disclosed the reason behind MS Dhoni promoting himself ahead of Yuvraj Singh in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 final against Sri Lanka. In an interview with PTI, Suresh Raina opened up how Dhoni’s confidence helped Team India win the World Cup trophy after 28 years.
In the interview, Suresh Raina said that as soon as Virat Kohli was dismissed Dhoni informed coach Gary Kirsten about his decision to go ahead of Yuvraj as he believed it was an ideal situation to walk up to bat. He said:
“Seeing his body language, I thought he would win us the World Cup. Dhoni (who made 91) came ahead of an in-form Yuvraj, that was a big call, but Dhoni told Gary Kirsten (coach) that he could play Muralitharan well, so he went in. I still remember everything so vividly.”
Suresh Raina also revealed the name of the player who led the bowling attack and he called him the ‘Sachin Tendulkar’ of bowling department. He said:
“Whatever decision we were taking, it was all going in our favour. Zaheer bhai led the bowling attack. Everyone was talking about our strong batting line up, but I would say he was the Sachin Tendulkar of the bowling department, getting us the breakthrough every time. Then the biggest contribution came from Yuvraj, who took wickets and finished games.”
