Former India head coach Gary Kirsten has disclosed that Yuvraj Singh nearly missed being selected for the 2011 World Cup cricket team.
The selection of Yuvraj Singh, who later became the Player of the Tournament in the 2011 ODI World Cup, was not a straightforward decision for the national selectors.
Kirsten and then-captain MS Dhoni played crucial roles in ensuring Yuvraj's inclusion in the team.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!"Thank goodness we picked him because it was flipping close, he was. It was not a slam-dunk selection. The selectors kind of debated around the 15 players. I was very keen to have him in the team as was Dhoni, because of the experience that he brought to the group. And look at the World Cup he ended up having," Kirsten told rediff.com.
"I was always very fond of Yuvraj. We had this kind of great relationship where like, he used to frustrate the hell out of me sometimes, but I just loved him. He was good. I just want him to be scoring runs all the time because when I watch him bat, it's just like amazing to watch. But there was a journey he had to walk and credit to Paddy (Upton)."
Mental conditioning and strategic leadership coach Paddy Upton worked extensively with Yuvraj to prepare him for the tournament, which preceded his battle with cancer.
"Paddy did a lot of work with Yuvi to get him ready for that World Cup. Yuvi himself made some key decisions around getting himself prepared and ready for the World Cup," he added.
After experiencing a quiet period in 2010, Yuvraj delivered an outstanding performance in the World Cup, scoring 362 runs with a strike rate exceeding 86 and taking 15 wickets.
His remarkable achievements included a century against West Indies in Chennai and a combined five-wicket haul and half-century against Ireland.
Yuvraj's crucial half-century in Ahmedabad helped eliminate defending champions Australia in the quarter-finals.
He continued his all-round performance by taking two wickets in each knockout game.
The tournament concluded with Yuvraj at the non-striker's end as Dhoni hit the winning six against Sri Lanka in the final at Mumbai.
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