Ex-India captain MS Dhoni reminisced about the ICC World Cup 2011 final between India and Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and reasoned why he batted above the in-form Yuvraj Singh in the final, as Men in Blue chased 274 runs.
MS Dhoni batted at No. 5 for India in the 2011 ODI World Cup final versus Sri Lanka at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 2, 2011, and finished undefeated on 91 runs off 79 balls.
Dhoni, who was leading India at the time, added 109 runs for the fourth wicket with Gautam Gambhir (97 runs from 122 balls) and 54 for the fifth wicket with Yuvraj Singh (21 not out from 24 balls) to help India chase down the target of 275 runs in 48.2 overs and win the ODI World Cup final by six wickets.
Dhoni's promotion to the batting order ahead of in-form Yuvraj surprised many fans at the time, and Dhoni has now explained why.
In a viral video from a recent event, Dhoni discussed his desire to face Yuvraj in the final, stating that he wanted to go because Sri Lanka's starting XI included three off-spinners, two of which were former Chennai Super Kings teammates.
“Gautam (Gambhir) and Virat (Kohli) had a very good partnership, and Yuvraj was in form. Yuvi was having a very good World Cup. So, the tricky decision was whether Yuvi should go in or, you know, I wanted to… there was something in me; I wanted to go," Dhoni said.
“The reason was simple; it was very experience-driven. If you look at the (Sri Lankan) bowling at that time, the bowlers who were going to bowl in the middle overs. Murli sir (Muralitharan) was there, Suraj Randiv was there, and (Tillakaratne) Dilshan was there in the part-timers, all three of them off-spinners. And two of the three off-spinners had played for CSK. So, Murli sir was with CSK, and Suraj Randiv was with CSK, which meant that I had batted them a lot in the nets. And it is said that it becomes a little easier to play off-spinners for righties (right-handed batters)," he continued.
“Gautam was already there, you know, and Gautam and I have not batted very much together. But we have batted, especially when we went to play India A in Kenya and Zimbabwe. In the one-day tournament in Kenya, I was batting up the order. So, we batted a lot together at that time. So, we ran very well between the wickets, and it was needed at that point of time. And I felt that the left-right combination and the way I had played Suraj Randiv and Muralitharan, because of that, it will be a little easier if I bat well in the starting 2-4 overs," Dhoni added.
MS Dhoni won the Player of the Final for his 91*-run knock as he had finished the match for India with a six on the second ball of the 49th over of the run chase.
