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Chief selector Srikkanth says self-belief proved crucial for India’s World Cup triumph

Dubai: The wave of celebrations apart, if there is one common factor between India’s World Cup conquests of 1983 and 2011, it’s got to be Krishnamachari Srikkanth. The former dashing Indian opener — who was such a key member of ‘Kapil’s Devils’ and is now the chairman of national selectors — is naturally over the moon at the success of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men.

Speaking exclusively to Gulf News from Chennai, Srikkanth said: "I am overjoyed at having played some part in both India’s World Cup triumphs. The only similarity that I see between the two teams is while in ‘83 the team revolved around Kapil Dev, on this occasion, it revolved around Dhoni. Apart from playing that captain’s knock in the final, he showed he was a responsible leader by willing to take the risks and also admit his mistakes."

Memory

For those who followed the ‘83 final, the images of Srikkanth going down on one knee to execute an audacious square drive off the fearsome Andy Roberts still lingers in memory.

"It’s a culmination of factors which made this team the world beaters today, but the process had started quite a while back. Over the last three years, this team has come back from difficult situations to win matches in both Tests and one-dayers. This had given them the self-belief that proved so crucial for the team in the final or the quarters against Australia," Srikkanth said.

Labelling the triumph as the result of some wonderful team effort, Srikkanth felt the entire team was lucky to draw inspiration from someone like Sachin Tendulkar.

"The passion that Tendulkar brings into his game filtered into everybody...it’s not for nothing that all players chose to dedicate their win to him. On his part, Tendulkar was also in great touch throughout the tournament," he said.

Asked to speak about each player’s contribution, Srikkanth was more than willing — dissecting the performance of each player with a clinical eye.

Set the tempo

"Take a look at the openers — while I have already spoken about Tendulkar, the way [Virender] Sehwag went after Umar Gul in the semi-final possibly set the tempo for the match. [Gautam] Gambhir at No. 3 was also superb, playing the sheet-anchor role to perfection," he said.

Srikkanth also had strong words of praise for Virat Kohli, who has carved a place for himself at number four position within such a short time.

"He is really maturing into a fine cricketer with his temperament, running between the wickets."

Speaking about Yuvraj Singh, the Player of the Tournament, Srikkanth said the biggest gain for India was the left-hand batsman developing into an allrounder during the course of the tournament.

"We had the all-rounder’s slot vacant and Yuvraj seems to have fit in the bill perfectly."

The bowling attack, which came under flak in the initial stages of the tournament, also rose to the occasion.

"The senior pros Zaheer [Khan] and Harbhajan [Singh] played their part, while supporting bowlers like Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra and Ravichandran Ashwin also chipped in with useful performances. It all goes go show what a team effort it was," he said.