Speaking during a podcast, Yuvraj Singh revealed why many senior cricketers didn’t play in the 2007 T20 World Cup, and he also opened up about his earlier desire to captain India.

Yuvraj Singh is considered to be one of the greatest cricketers from India, due to his multiple match-winning performances for the country. The all-rounder was also expected by many fans to become the national team captain, and so did the Punjab native. But in the end, the left-hander was overlooked by the cricket board for the captaincy role, and it was given to MS Dhoni. Speaking to Gaurav Kapur in the 22 Yarns podcast, Yuvraj stated that he expected to skipper India in the inaugural 2007 T20 World Cup before Dhoni was named captain for the tournament.

“So basically India had lost the 50-over World Cup right? There was quite a lot of turmoil in Indian cricket and then there was a two-month tour of England. There was also a month tour in between South Africa and Ireland. Then there was a month of T20 World Cup, so it was like four months away from home,” he said.

“So probably the seniors thought that they need a break and obviously nobody took the T20 World Cup seriously. I was expecting to captain India in the T20 World Cup and then it was announced MS Dhoni will be the captain,” Yuvraj added.

Asked if his relationship with Dhoni survived the captaincy issue, Yuvraj stated, “Obviously. Whoever becomes captain you got to support the guy whether it was Rahul, whether it was Sourav Ganguly, whoever in the future. End of the day you want to be a team man and that’s how I was.”

Yuvraj played a crucial role in India’s T20 World Cup campaign, helping them win the trophy by defeating Pakistan in the final. After the tournament, Yuvraj also won the 2011 ODI World Cup under Dhoni’s leadership.

It was also during this tournament that he carted England’s Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over, a part of Indian cricketing folklore.