India’s World Cup victory against Sri Lanka in 2011 is a very crucial memory for every Indian fan as well as the cricketers. MS Dhoni, the skipper of Indian team during the match, played a vital role in chasing the 274 runs target set by Sri Lanka in the first innings. The victory is also a prominent memory for MS and he recently revealed why he promoted himself up the order ahead of Yuvraj Singh in the match.
While launching the MS Dhoni Residential Cricket Academy in Dongargaon on Thursday, MS Dhoni was quoted by Hindustan Times as saying, “I knew most of the bowlers of Sri Lanka as they were part of the Chennai Super Kings earlier. I promoted myself because Muralitharan was bowling at that time. I have played him a lot in the CSK nets and I was confident that I will be able to score runs freely against him. That was one of the main reasons why I pushed myself up the order during the final”.
Dhoni also mentioned that his success as a captain helped to change the perception of selectors over choosing wicket-keepers as skippers. “Before me, selectors were quite reluctant to make stumper as captain saying he will be burdened too much. But I changed their view with my successful tenure as the captain. ‘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. He is an asset for any captain. He can release the burden on the captain with his inputs,” said the 37-year-old cricketer.
The 2011 World final against Sri Lanka was played in Mumbai at Wankhede stadium. MS Dhoni had surprised everyone when he promoted himself up the order, replacing in-form batsman Yuvraj Singh. Chasing 274 in the second innings, India faced a setback when two of its openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar were dismissed cheaply. Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli were able to stabilise the innings later. After the dismissal of Kohli, MS Dhoni came in to bat scoring 91 runs, and also featured in a 109-run partnership with Gautam. His innings played a major role in the final and he was awarded the man of the match for the same.