‘Everyone said MS Dhoni won 2011 World Cup. Were the other players having lassi?’: Harbhajan Singh

Former spinner Harbhajan Singh has taken a shot at those who feel that India won the 2011 World Cup due to MS Dhoni alone.

Harbhajan, who was part of India’s victorious World Cup campaign in 2011 at home, feels that it’s unfair to credit Dhoni alone for India’s ground-breaking World Cup win and mentioned that all 11 players were responsible for the team’s six-wicket-win over Sri Lanka in the final.

It all began when Harbhajan’s former India teammate Mohammad Kaif, ahead of the start of the IPL 2022 match between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders, pointed out that Shreyas Iyer ‘led the Capitals to the final’ in IPL 2022. “Iyer was the captain of Delhi Capitals (in 2020), took the team to the final. He doesn’t show much emotion although in his heart he would have wanted to win against his previous team,” Kaif had said during the Byju’s Cricket Live Show.

Taking a little exception to it, a visibly miffed Harbhajan replied saying: “I don’t understand one thing. Shreyas Iyer took the team to the final? Were the rest of the players playing gulli-danda?” before the discussion took a lighter turn. It is there that Harbhajan brought up the 2011 World Cup.

In the summit clash against Sri Lanka at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, Dhoni played the innings of his life as his knock of 91, including the famous six off Nuwan Kulasekara, helped India chase down a target of 275. In that innings, Gautam Gambhir had top-scored with 97 and it was his innings that helped India recover from an early damage of 31/2. However, Dhoni was named the Player of the Match, and ever since, the Gambhir vs Dhoni debates have been raging.

“When Australia wins the World Cup, the headlines are: ‘Australia won the World Cup’. When India won the World Cup at that time, everyone said, ‘MS Dhoni won the World Cup. Toh baaki ke 10 waha lassi peene gaye thhe? (Were the remaining 10 players there to have milkshake?). What did the other 10 players do? What did Gautam Gambhir do? What did the others do? It’s a team game. When 7-8 players play well, only then will your team progress”, Harbhajan said.