I was expecting to lead India in 2007 T20 World Cup, says Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh, former all-rounder of the Indian cricket team, said he was expecting to be the captain in the 2007 T20 World Cup when the cricket board overlooked and selected Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the skipper.

After 14 years the tournament, Yuvraj Singh, in a podcast show ‘22 Yarns’ by Gaurav Kapoor, revealed that before Dhoni was named as the captain of the tournament, he was expecting to be the national team captain.

The Indian cricket team led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni made history, when they defeated Pakistan in the finale. The semi-finale match of the 2007 T20 World Cup became memorable in the history of Cricket as Yuvraj Singh hit six sixes in a single over against Australia.

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He said, “ So basically India lost the 50-over World Cup right? I mean there was quite a turmoil in Indian cricket. There was a two-month tour in England, then one-month tour in South Africa and Ireland, and one-month T20 World Cup. so it was like four-month away from home.”

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The former cricketer added, “ Everybody needed a break so that could be the reason, seniors didn’t take T20 World Cup seriously and at that very moment I was expecting to be the captain of team India when MS Dhoni’s name was announced to be the captain.”

During the podcast, Yuvraj also said that the decision didn’t impact his and Dhoni’s relationship, and being a “team player he would have backed anyone who was leading team India.”

He added that as T20 was the first tournament there were no such strategies planned and players just played the way they knew.

The 39-year-old all-rounder was also part of the squad that won the 2011 ODI World Cup.