By Sirshendu Panth, IANS,
Mumbai : Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni promoted himself in the batting order ahead of the in-form Yuvraj Singh to ensure a left hand-right hand combination in the World Cup final against Sri Lanka, but knew at the back of his mind that he would face the music if the move backfired.
“It was a difficult one. Yuvraj has been in a brilliant form throughout the tournament. So promoting myself and not getting runs would have led to questions,” said Dhoni who led India from the front with an unbeaten 91 to fashion a six-wicket victory that enabled the team to lift the trophy for the second time.
“It was an honest decision. Had I not promoted myself, then there would have been three back-to-back left handers in Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina,” he said.
“I thought the team would benefit If I get in specially two off spinners in the
Sri Lankan team. Gary Kirsten backed my decision.”
Dhoni, who failed to come up with big scores in the tournament before this game said he had the backing of coach Gary Kirsten and seniors in the team.
“In the earlier games, I let the youngsters come up the order so that they can get an opportunity to bat and also I wanted to be around when the pressure was maximum. But I guess pressure got to me more often than not,” Dhoni said.
“In this game I wanted to bat up the order and Gary backed me and so did the senior players. I had a point to prove to myself and to no one else.
India, chasing 275-run target, lost their openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar for 31 before Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli steadied the innings. Gambhir was unfortunate to miss the century by three runs.
“The 275-run target was tough and when we lost the two players in Viru and Sachin a lot of people would have questioned whether we will be able to complete the chase.
“Against fast bowlers it is important to take a lot of ones and twos, a wicket then would have put pressure on our middle order. But Virat and Gautam batted brilliantly and we could put pressure on the spinners with the help of a bit of dew,” Dhoni said.
“I would have liked Gautam to go on and get that big hundred. But he missed it because of his own mistake. But he played an important innings and took us close.
Asked about his 109-run fourth wicket partnership Gambhir which set India on the road to victory, Dhoni said.”We had decided we won’t take too many risky runs. After a long time we batted together today. We ran well. We supported each other.”
Dhoni said he knew how to tackle Sri Lanka’s legendary offie Muttiah Muralitharan’s doosra and was confident taking him on.
“I have played with Muralitharan. He has played in my IPL team Chennai Super Kings. I know his doosras. He also knows that.
“I was able to put pressure on him,” he said.