Sachin Tendulkar suggested left-right combination be unperturbed in 2011 final, reveals Virender Sehwag

04/05/2020

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Amongst other things Sachin Tendulkar was right about on 2011 World Cup final day, according to Virender Sehwag, was the suggestion to maintain the left-right combination during the chase. Mahela Jayawardene’s 103 had led Sri Lanka to a decent total and India had lost both its openers quite early.

On April 2, 2011, millions of Indian fans had lived their dream watching Team India lift the World Cup under captain MS Dhoni. While recollecting the grand day, the then Indian opener Virender Sehwag shared that it was Sachin Tendulkar who had asked MS Dhoni to promote himself to No.5, over Yuvraj Singh, to maintain the lefthand-righthand combination in the batting. Sehwag admits that it was Tendulkar’s suggestion that worked out well against the Sri Lankan bowlers.

“Baat unki bilkul sahi thi [He(Sachin) was right]. The left-right combination needed to continue. That change in strategy completely caught the Sri Lankans off guard. Before he could even complete his sentence, we saw MS walking into the dressing room. So, that's when he (Sachin) repeated the same thing to MS, in front of me,” recollected Sehwag, as quoted by the TOI.

After Sachin had asked Dhoni to consider this strategy, the Indian captain had consulted with the then coach Gary Kirsten, who was sitting outside on the balcony. Following that, the four of them had a conversation and that’s how Dhoni ended up promoting himself up the order. He went on to score a fine 91 off 79 deliveries and formed a 109-run partnership with Gautam Gambhir. Dhoni’s last-ball six was indeed a fine finish to a fate that was already sealed according to Sehwag.

"By the time that six was hit, more or less, the fate of the final had been decided," added Sehwag.