Harbhajan recalls genesis of MS Dhoni’s captaincy in 2007 T20 World Cup

Team India pose with 2007 ICC T20 World Cup (PC: Twitter)

Harbhajan Singh has praised former skipper MS Dhoni for guiding India to victory at the 2007 T20 World Cup. The legendary spinner added that Dhoni gave a lot of freedom to his players throughout the tournament, which attributed to India’s success.

Harbhajan Singh recalls early impressions of MS Dhoni’s leadership

Harbhajan Singh featured in India’s playing XI against Pakistan in the 2007 T20 World Cup title clash. On the fifteenth anniversary of the team’s remarkable triumph, the legendary spinner talked about the early impressions of then skipper MS Dhoni.

“It did not feel to us that MS Dhoni was our skipper till he lifted the trophy. It was so because everyone was contributing their suggestions as to what should be done during a certain stage in a game. He was very open to it and would let us go ahead with whatever we thought was best.”

The cricketer-turned-commentator also spoke about Dhoni’s bowl-out strategy in his first match as India leader in the tournament. The ‘Men in Blue’ faced Pakistan in their group game which eventually ended in a tie. Dhoni’s troops later won the tie-breaker via some tactical brilliance from the wicketkeeper, which included bowlers running in from a shorter run-up.

“The run-ups of players involved in bowl-out were of three to four steps. It was so because they could have lost their balance after running from a great distance.”

Also Read: #OTD in 2007: India lifted T20 World Cup title in a cliff-hanger against Pakistan