Imagine how India would have coped without Yuvraj Singh in the 2011 ODI World Cup. Then-India head coach Gary Kirsten has now revealed that the national selectors weren’t exactly certain of marking a spot for Yuvraj for the marquee home World Cup, that he would eventually dominate to become the Player of the Tournament.
Speaking to rediff.com, Kirsten revealed that if it were not for his and then skipper MS Dhoni’s insistence, the script could indeed have been a lot different.
“Thank goodness we picked him because it was flipping close, he was. It was not a slam-dunk selection. The selectors kind of debated around the 15 players. I was very keen to have him in the team as was Dhoni, because of the experience that he brought to the group. And look at the World Cup he ended up having,” revealed Kirsten.
“I was always very fond of Yuvraj. We had this kind of great relationship where like, he used to frustrate the hell out of me sometimes, but I just loved him. He was good. I just want him to be scoring runs all the time because when I watch him bat, it’s just like amazing to watch. But there was a journey he had to walk and credit to Paddy (Upton),” added Kirsten.
Kirsten added that Upton (mental conditioning and strategic leadership coach) was integral to get Yuvraj in prime shape for the tournament, his last major event before a life-threatening cancer hampered the next phase of his international career.
“Paddy did a lot of work with Yuvi to get him ready for that World Cup. Yuvi himself made some key decisions around getting himself prepared and ready for the World Cup,” the former India coach added.
After a lull in 2010, Yuvraj turned up in full force in the World Cup, racking 362 runs with a strike rate above 86 besides 15 wickets in the tournament. Yuvraj scored a century against the West Indies in sultry Chennai while also claiming a five-wicket haul and a half-century in a league game against Ireland. However, Yuvraj’s special knock came against defending champs Australia, who were knocked out with his match-winning half-century in the quarter-final match in Ahmedabad.
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The star all-rounder also turned up with two wickets each in every knockout game and was memorably at the non-striker’s end when his captain Dhoni added the finishing touches with an iconic six in the final against Sri Lanka in Mumbai.
