Sachin Tendulkar said his advice to MS that he should go in to bat ahead of Yuvraj became a masterstroke for India in the World Cup 2011 final.
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| Sachin and Dhoni Celebrating 2011 Win |
After losing the early wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag in their chase of 274 against Sri Lanka in the 2011 World Cup final, When Kohli lost his wicket in the 22nd over, everyone expected the in-form Yuvraj Singh - to walk out to bat. But much to the surprise of the spectators and the opposition, it was the indian captain MS Dhoni who came out to the middle instead.
The decision to promote himself above the in-form Yuvraj Singh seemed baffling at the time as Dhoni had not shown great form going into the World Cup final .
But the move turned out to be a masterstroke and the Captain MS Dhoni smashed 91 off just 79 deliveries to complement Gambhir's 97 to help India lift the trophy for the second time in history.
"The partnership between Gautam and Virat was flourishing and we wanted to be a couple of steps ahead of the opposition. That's when I told Viru ... 'if a left-hander (Gautam) gets out now, a left-hander (Yuvi) should go in, and if a right-hander (Virat) gets out, a right-hander (Dhoni) should go in. Yuvi was in tremendous form but Sri Lanka had two off-spinners going, so I thought a strategy change would work," Tendulkar said.
"He was right. Left-right combination needed to continue. That change in strategy completely caught the Sri Lankans off guard," Sehwag added.
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