MS Dhoni was struggling with the bat for a large part of 2011 World Cup, and Yuvraj Singh has now revealed that the former Indian captain worked on his batting even on off-days.
Former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has revealed that MS Dhoni never took an off-day throughout the 2011 World Cup, as he was going through a lean patch with the bat. Dhoni, who failed to register big scores in the league stages of the tournament, shined in the final against Sri Lanka as he remained not out on 91 to guide India to victory.
Yuvraj said that Dhoni worked very hard on his batting during the tournament, and that there was significant pressure on him to perform.
"We used to have one or two off days between matches in the World Cup, but Mahi never took those off-days. He was batting and he was working very hard," Yuvraj told Sports Tak.
"I used to see him working so hard, and I thought he's destined to explode some day or the other in the tournament.
"As a captain, you've to take care of a lot of things. And when you're not in form, it increases the pressure more."
Talking about the final, Yuvraj said that Sachin Tendulkar, the-then head coach Gary Kirsten and Virender Sehwag had a chat with Dhoni before the former Indian captain came in to bat at number five in the match.
"Gary, Viru and Sachin had a chat with MS. It was decided that if Gauti gets out, I would've gone in. If Virat went out, Dhoni would've to come in at number five," said Yuvraj.
India went on to win the final by six wickets and became the only Asian team to lift the World Cup twice - a record which stays intact.
In 2013, MS Dhoni became the only captain to lift all the major ICC trophies (World Cup, Champions Trophy and T20 World Cup) in the history of the game. He left the captaincy in January 2017.
