MS Dhoni came ahead of Yuvraj Singh in WC 2011 final as he could read my doosra: Muttiah Muralitharan

MS Dhoni’s unbeaten 91 in the 2011 World Cup final is etched in the Indian cricket’s history. His knock, along with Gautam Gambhir‘s exceptional 97, made sure India chased down a steep total against Sri Lanka to win their second ODI World Cup. Interestingly, Yuvraj Singh batted at number five in the whole tournament but in a crunch situation, the skipper decided to come ahead of the southpaw which surprised many.

Dhoni himself revealed later that the reason he went to bat higher up the order was to tackle Sri Lanka’s legendary off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was bowling well and it was important for the left-right combination to continue with Gambhir batting well. However, Murali has now come up with yet another theory saying that Dhoni used to read his doosra well and so he came ahead of Yuvraj.

It could be noted here that Murali used to play for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) then in the Indian Premier League (IPL) under MS Dhoni’s captaincy. “I would say Dhoni read it towards the end when I was bowling to him in Chennai. I remember in the World Cup, Yuvraj didn’t have a clue on me. He was supposed to come but I think because of me Dhoni came (ahead of Yuvraj),” he said while speaking to ESPNCricinfo.

Only Sachin, Laxman and Gambhir could read doosra, says Murali

The World Cup 2011 final turned out to be Muttiah Muralitharan’s last ODI even as he continued playing Tests. Talking about his doosra, the spinner claimed that only a few Indian batsmen managed to read while not only Yuvraj but many others had no clue about it

“Sachin (Tendulkar) definitely read it. I thought Rahul (Dravid) didn’t read it that well. (VVS) Laxman read it as well as (Gautam Gambir) Gambhir. (Virender) Sehwag I don’t know if he read it all the time. When I bowled the doosra, I didn’t use the seam. So with the seam, you can’t see it, you will have to see it from my wrist.

“Among the Sri Lankan players, (Kumar) Sangakkara, Mahela (Jayawardene), Aravind de Silva, Marvan Atapattu read it. (Tilakaratne) Dilshan never had a clue,” he further added.