After playing a major role in India’s World Cup title triumph, a feat that fetched him the man of the tournament award, swashbuckling batsman Yuvraj Singh revealed that he wanted to win cricket’s most coveted title for senior teammate Sachin Tendulkar.
“Very sorry to disappoint you, guys. It was not for my girlfriend or my fiancee, but for Sachin Tendulkar,” he said at the packed post-final media conference with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni sitting by his side.
“This (winning the 50-over format World Cup) is unbelievable. Under-19 World Cup, then Twenty20 World Cup but this is the most special,” he said after India defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets in the World Cup summit showdown.
“(This is) for Sachin, for everyone else in the team. I want to dedicate this to my Guru Ram Singh and Guru Ajit Singh and my parents and friends,” he said.
After guiding the team to a great victory over defending champions Australia in the quarterfinals, Yuvraj had said that he wanted to win the trophy for a “special person” and added the identity of the person would be revealed by him after the final.
The 29-year-old left-hander felt India played like champions throughout the match and deserved to win.
“We played like champions and we deserve to win. We batted like champions and we saved lots of runs at the field,” he said after being handed the Player of the Tournament award by ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat.
Yuvraj said the team did not panic after the early dismissals of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag and discussed how the players should avoid the mistakes committed during India’s 2003 World Cup final loss against Australia in Johannesburg.
