Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Sigh has made a staggering claim that he was supposed to captain Team India in the 2007 T20 World Cup and not MS Dhoni. It was undoubtedly a surprising decision from the BCCI to pick Dhoni as captain as there were already a few senior players in the side.
One of the senior players was Yuvraj, who was also India’s vice-captain during the team’s tour of England under the leadership of Rahul Dravid. After the series, Yuvraj appeared to be the favourite to lead India in the inaugural edition of The T20 World Cup in 2007 as senior players like Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid, and Sourav Ganguly pulled out of the event.
However, as it turned out, Dhoni was appointed as captain of the Indian team, and he led the ‘Men in Blue’ to a memorable triumph with a thrilling win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the final. Dhoni soon became the all-format captain as India accomplished several heights under his leadership.
Yuvraj has now revealed that he was supposed to lead Team India, but his stand during the Greg Chappell incident cost him the captaincy. Notably, Chappell, who coached India from 2005 to 2007, had disputes with some of India’s senior players, including Ganguly and Tendulkar.
The Chandigarh-born cricketer mentioned that he always supported Tendulkar during the fiasco, which didn’t go down well with some BCCI officials, and suddenly, he was sacked as India’s vice-captain.
“I was supposed to be the captain. Then the Greg Chappell incident happened. It had become Chappell or Sachin. I was probably the only player who supported…that I support my teammate. And there were a lot of people in the…Some of the BCCI officials did not like that. It was said that they should make anybody the captain but not myself. This is what I heard,” Yuvraj said during an interview on Sports18.
“I am not sure how true it is. Suddenly from vice-captaincy, I was removed. Sehwag was not there in the team. So, out of nowhere, Mahi (MS Dhoni) became captain for the 2007 T20 World Cup. I thought I was going to be the captain,” he added.
