Muttiah Muralitharan reveals he was aware of the MS Dhoni's plan of promoting himself in the 2011 World Cup

Muttiah Muralitharan went wicketless in the 2011 Cricket World Cup Final against India.

India’s last World Cup win came 12 years ago in 2011 when they outplayed Sri Lanka in the World Cup Final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Captain MS Dhoni played a magnificent knock of 91 runs in the final to end India's 28-year-long wait to win a Cricket World Cup. Despite a poor show with the bat in the entire World Cup, Dhoni played a brilliant knock in the final. He surprised everyone by promoting himself over the tournament’s star performer Yuvraj Singh. Now, Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has revealed that he knew MS Dhoni will be promoting himself over Yuvraj Singh in the World Cup Final. Dhoni came in right after Virat Kohli lost his wicket to Tillakratne Dilshan leaving India to chase down 161 runs in 176 balls. 

'Dhoni knows how to play me': Muttiah Muralitharan

Former Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan said that he knew about Dhoni’s move as he played me in the nets and was comfortable in Chennai Super Kings and Yuvraj was a left-hander and struggled against me. Murali said, “I knew because Yuvraj was not comfortable playing me. Yuvi was the best player in the World Cup. I was bowling well but was wicketless. I knew Dhoni will come before Yuvraj because he knows how to play me well because I used to bowl in Chennai to him”. Muttiah Muralitharan was part of the Chennai Super Kings for three seasons from 2008 to 2010.

MS Dhoni scored 91 runs in 79 balls with 8 fours and 2 sixes and added 109 runs for the 4th wicket along with Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir missed out on his century by 3 runs and got out on 97 playing a rash shot against Thisara Perera. Yuvraj Singh came in to bat at 6 and struck a winning stand for the 5th wicket with captain MS Dhoni, where the latter went on to become Player of the Match in the final. Yuvraj Singh was awarded Player of the Series in the tournament for his all-round performance. Sri Lanka are currently fighting for a place in the main World Cup event and playing in the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe.