Dhoni reveals why he promoted himself in World Cup final

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni has finally revealed what had prompted him to promote himself up the order in the final of the Cricket World Cup in 201.

Batting first, Sri Lanka were 274/6 after 50 overs thanks to a brilliant knock from Mahela Jayawardene who scored 103 runs. 

In reply, India lost the wickets of Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar early and it was only thanks to Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli that they were able to steady the innings. After Kohli lost his wicket, Dhoni decided to promote himself ahead of Yuvraj Singh and sealed the match with a 109-run stand for the fourth wicket.

The move left a lot of fans confused as Yuvraj was in great form ahead of the summit clash and at an event on Thursday, Dhoni finally revealed the reason behind his decision.

“I knew most of the bowlers of Sri Lanka as they were part of the Chennai Super Kings earlier. I promoted myself because Muralitharan was bowling at that time. I have played him a lot in the CSK nets and I was confident that I will be able to score runs freely against him. That was one of the main reasons why I pushed myself up the order during the final,” said Dhoni on the sidelines of the launch of MS Dhoni Residential Cricket Academy in Dongargaon, according to Hindustan Times.

Dhoni also said that thanks to his immense success as a captain, the Indian selectors were forced to change their perception towards wicket-keepers as they thought that they do not make good skippers.

“Before me, selectors were quite reluctant to make stumper as captain saying he will be burdened too much. But I changed their view with my successful tenure as the captain.

‘Keeper is in the best position to help any captain analyse the match. He is very close to the action and can accordingly guide the team leader about many things. He is an asset for any captain. He can release the burden on the captain with his inputs,” said Dhoni.