I was hoping to lead India in T20 WC; however, Dhoni’s name was reported: Yuvraj.

• keypoints:
• Yuvraj had reasons to believe he was ready to captain India after Dravid decided to step down, but the selectors went with Dhoni for T20 World Cup in 2007.
• the main reasons behind India are winning two World Cups – 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup – Yuvraj Singh.

Regardless of India’s most productive match-champs in white-ball cricket and one of the fundamental purposes for India winning two World Cups – 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup – Yuvraj Singh never captained India, not in any event, for a solitary match. Two years after his retirement, the brave left-hander who infrequently talked about the second thoughts of not getting the India captaincy uncovered he was hoping to lead India in the debut T20 World Cup in 2007 in front of inevitable skipper MS Dhoni. 

While talking in the ’22 Yarns’ digital broadcast with Gaurav Kapur, Yuvraj shared how senior cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Rahul Dravid’s choice to quit the competition has offered to ascend to the expectations of being named India chief. 

“Anyway, fundamentally, India had lost the 50-over World Cup, correct? There was significant strife in Indian cricket, and afterwards, there was a two-month visit through England, and there was likewise a month visit in the middle with South Africa and Ireland. And afterwards, there was a month of T20 World Cup, so there resembled four months from home. So most likely, the seniors felt that they need a break, and clearly, no one treated the T20 World Cup appropriately. I was hoping to commander India in the T20 World Cup, and afterwards, it was declared MS Dhoni would be the skipper,” Yuvraj Singh said. 

Yuvraj had his motivations to accept he was next in line after Dravid chose to venture down as he was at that point one of the pillars of the restricted overs side and gradually discovering real confidence in red-ball cricket

. 

In any case, the selectors chose to go with MS Dhoni, who had quite recently started his brilliant ascent to worldwide cricket. 

Talking about his relationship with Dhoni, Yuvraj said he never experienced any difficulties coexisting with the previous India captain. 

“Indeed, clearly, whoever becomes commander you had the opportunity to help that person whether it was Rahul, regardless of whether it was [Sourav] Ganguly, whoever later on, day’s end you need to be a group man and that is how I was. Thus, at any rate, the seniors took a rest – Ganguly, Dravid, Sachin. So Zak [Zaheer Khan] says, ‘I likewise should take rest, it has been a long visit’. I recollect the principal game was between West Indies and South Africa, isn’t that so? What’s more, Chris Gayle hit a hundred off 50-55 balls. So Zak sends me a message in the evening, and he goes, ‘Say thanks to God! I rested for this competition.’ and when we won the competition he said ‘Good gracious! I shouldn’t have rested’,” Yuvraj added. 

Despite everything, India proceeded to win the T20 World Cup. 

Yuvraj, perhaps the most brilliant entertainer in the competition, said the youthful Indian side didn’t have a clear system; they played their regular game. 

“In any case, beginning for the 2007 World Cup, we were a youthful group. We didn’t have a global mentor or huge names. Lalchand Rajput was our mentor, and I think Venkatesh Prasad was our bowling trainer, and we were only a youthful group under a youthful skipper who just arrived in South Africa. I don’t think we had an over the top procedure; nobody had an idea about T20 methodologies since it was the principal competition. So we thought, ‘How about we simply proceed to play how you know,” said Yuvraj.