Mumbai: Former Team India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has revealed that he was hoping to be handed over the captaincy in the absence of senior Indian cricketers including Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Zaheer Khan among others absence, during the 2007 T20 World Cup. But he recalled that the selectors made MS Dhoni the captain, thereby he supported the decision as a team member.
The explosive all-rounder, who emerged as India’s hero in both 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 ICC ODI World Cup, took the cricketing world by storm when he had smashed English pacer Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over during the ICC World T20 2007 group stage match between India & England. He completed his half century in 12 balls. Still that record is intact as before.
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“So basically India had lost the 50-over World Cup right? There was quite a lot of turmoil in Indian cricket and then there was a two-month tour of England. There was also a month tour in between South Africa and Ireland. Then there was a month of T20 World Cup, so it was like four months away from home,” Yuvraj told Gaurav Kapur in the ’22 Yarns’ podcast.
“So probably the seniors thought that they need a break and obviously nobody took the T20 World Cup seriously. I was expecting to captain India in the T20 World Cup and then it was announced MS Dhoni will be the captain,” he added.
However the surprise captaincy call didn’t effect Yuvi’s relationship with Dhoni, “Obviously. Whoever becomes captain you got to support the guy whether it was Rahul, whether it was Sourav Ganguly, whoever in the future. End of the day you want to be a team man and that’s how I was,” the 39-year-old stated.
Speaking of MS Dhoni, Yuvraj recalled that his then Indian skipper was a happy man after the former had smashed six sixes in an over. Yuvraj’s crucial over came at a time when the MS Dhoni-led side were in a tight spot as they had to beat England to keep their semi-final hopes alive. “I think MS was very happy. If you’re the captain and the other guy is just hitting six after six, you’re just happy that the score is increasing and it was a must-win game.”
