'Sir, World Cup jeet ke ayenge' - Sanjay Jagdale describes MS Dhoni's reaction before the 2007 T20 WC

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni was handed over the captaincy of the Indian team in 2007 for the inaugural edition of the ICC T20 World Cup as veterans like Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid had pulled out their names from the tournament. However, that one decision proved to be a turning point both for Dhoni and Indian team.

Dhoni led a relatively young team in the tournament but managed to lift the cup after defeating Pakistan in the final. India were considered as underdogs in the marquee event as not many people were expecting the victory after a horrible run in the 2007 ODI World Cup.

Former national selector Sanjay Jagdale, who was part of the BCCI’s selection panel back in 2007, revealed the events that led to Dhoni becoming the captain of a young team.

“This was 2007 and I was a selector. And I was with the Indian team in England, and we were having a one-day series. Dilip [Vengsarkar] was chairman…and we had a meeting for selecting the World Cup 2007 team,” Jagdale said in an interview with Sportskeeda.

“So Sachin, Sourav and Rahul had told us, ‘Don’t consider us.’ So we picked a new team, a very young team. And I was in London, I had given my opinion, and Dhoni became captain for the first time,” Jagdale added.

MS Dhoni was confident of winning T20 World Cup

The veteran recalled that when Dhoni was handed the captaincy of the team, he had very confidently stated that they will come back to India only after winning the World Cup Trophy from South Africa. The confidence displayed by MS had left Jagdela stunned.

“So after the seventh one day was over, I still recollect in the dressing room I told MS, ‘This is a good team.’ And he said, ‘Sir, World Cup jeet ke ayenge (Sir, we will come back with the World Cup).’ I was shocked just seeing the confidence,” Jagdale concluded.

After the win in T20 World Cup, Dhoni successfully led the Men in Blue to glory in 2011 World Cup followed by 2013 Champions Trophy. Under his guidance, the team had reached the number 1 spot across all the formats.