"Because of me, he came ahead of Yuvraj," Muralitharan on Dhoni's batting promotion in 2011 World Cup final

Muttiah Muralitharan had played under MS Dhoni in the Indian Premier League.

MS Dhoni | GETTY

Former skipper MS Dhoni's decision to come ahead of Yuvraj Singh in the 2011 World Cup final and play an innings of unbeaten 91 runs is always seen as a crucial move in Indian cricket history. They had defeated Sri Lanka in the final match by six wickets while chasing 275 runs.

Sri Lanka's legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan said his doosra may have been the reason why Dhoni decided to promote himself ahead of Yuvraj, who was in tremendous form throughout the tournament.

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Muralitharan revealed Dhoni had learned how to read his doosra while playing for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) together in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

"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 said on ESPNCricinfo.

The 49-year-old said there were very few Indian players who could read his doosra. He named Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Gautam Gambhir as the ones who read his doosra.

"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. Among the Sri Lankan players, (Kumar) Sangakkara, Mahela (Jayawardene), Aravind de Silva, Marvan Atapattu read it. (Tilakaratne) Dilshan never had a clue," he said.

(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)

 
 

By - 21 Aug, 2021

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