When he talked about what happened, Sri Lankan great Muttiah Muralitharan said he knew the Indian captain would come out to bat as soon as one of the batters was out. MS Dhoni moving up in the batting order in the final of the 2011 ODI World Cup is still one of the most talked about moments in the tournament’s history.
Notably, Yuvraj Singh was in great shape, so the all-rounder was supposed to play with Gautam Gambhir after Tillakaratne Dilshan got rid of Virat Kohli. But everyone was surprised when Dhoni walked out to bat and played a phenomenal knock that helped India win the prized trophy. He told me that Dhoni played Murali a lot in the Chennai Super Kings nets, so he knew Murali’s style and moved himself up the order.
“I knew. Yuvraj didn’t want to play me because he doesn’t like it. Yuvraj was the best player in the world cup at the time because he did so well in the middle order at number four, and I knew Dhoni would come up in the order because I bowled to him a lot in nets in Chennai because we were playing in the IPL. So, Dhoni is very good at playing me.
“So when he (Virat Kohli) got out, he (Kohli) thought Dhoni was pushing himself. Muttiah Muralitharan said at the World Cup schedule launch, “I knew he would come because he knows how to play me very well.”
It’s too bad that Sri Lanka has to play in the qualifying rounds: Muttiah Muralitharan
Even though Sri Lanka is the current Asian champion, they did not get a straight spot in the upcoming ODI World Cup. The Dasun Shanaka-led team is currently playing in the qualifiers in Zimbabwe. Muralitharan says it is a shame for them because they are already well-known in the cricket world.
“It’s too bad that our country has to play in the qualifying rounds. In the last two years, we have not played well. Still, I think Sri Lanka has a lot of ability, good spin bowlers, a good bowling attack, and good batters. We haven’t done as well as we could for the past four or five years. We did well in the Asia Cup, but that was only T20 cricket. T20 cricket is very different from 50-over cricket.
“We have a good side anyway. In Zimbabwe, things are going well. Because of how they are playing, there is no doubt that they will win that competition. “All the good teams will be afraid of us at the World Cup because we won’t be easy to beat,” the 51-year-old said.
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