“Dilshan dives towards his right and what a spectacular catch of his own bowling to get rid of the talented Virat Kohli." Screamed the commentators during the 2011 World Cup finals in the second innings!
Up next to bat is a man who had scored 300+ runs and multiple fifties and a century. As the crowed patiently waited for Yuvraj Singh, in walks the skipper MS Dhoni. Dhoni has the knack of making such one minute decision which creates history, including his Test retirement. Be it the 2007 T20 World Cup finals or 2013 Champions Trophy final from Joginder Sharma to Ishant Sharma everything was Dhoni's decision.
But here is the thing, in the above two incidents India had almost lost and Dhoni wasn't left with much options. But that night of 2011 final, Dhoni held his best man and came forward to bat. Dhoni's last seven innings before final were 31,34,19,12,22,7,25 and Yuvraj's score in seven innings were 58,50,51,12,113,57,0 and everybody would have agreed to bring the man in red hot form, Yuvraj Singh.
But Dhoni's tactician mind sensed the Sri Lankan plans. When you are playing against any team, you have a plan to get opposition batsman's wicket, especially the one in form. Sehwag gone, Sachin gone, Virat Kohli gone, it was an indication that Sri Lankans were executing their plans well. The joy on faces on getting Kohli's wicket proved that they knew next is Yuvraj and they have a plan for him. Then came the masterstroke and walked in MS Dhoni. Sri Lanka's plan was to get Yuvraj out and create pressure and win the finals. But Dhoni walked in made a partnership with Gambhir and absorbed the pressure. It was simple. People haven't seen much of Dhoni in the tournament and hence weren't prepared for him.
By the time Gambhir got out playing a magnificent inning, Yuvraj walked in. But Dhoni's wicket became Sri Lanka's priority, which gave Yuvraj to settle in. Then together that night they created history. This again proved that MS Dhoni is one of the best things that happened to Indian cricket.
