The More You Know- MS Dhoni was in Search of ‘Other Player’ when Rohit Sharma was Planning for 2011 World Cup

Rohit Sharma was one of the players who was a strong contender to be in the Indian squad for the 2011 ODI World Cup. Rohit was part of team India under the captaincy of MS Dhoni in 2007 T20 World Cup. He then followed up with his appearance in the 2009 and 2010 T20 World Cup squads. Then in 2011, Rohit was aiming to play his first ever ODI World Cup, but fate had some other plans for him and so he missed out on the opportunity.

What happened was Rohit had plans for 2011 World Cup, but MS Dhoni was planning to have another player in the squad. In an interview in 2023, former Indian selector Raja Venkat gave out the details from the selection meeting. He stated that Rohit’s name was in the plan but Dhoni wanted Piyush Chawla to play instead.

“When we sat to select the team, Rohit was very much in the scheme of things. Yashpal Sharma and I were in South Africa at that time because India was touring South Africa, and the other three selectors – Srikkanth, (Surendra) Bhave and (Narendra) Hirwani – were in Chennai. So, when we were selecting the team, numbers 1-14, every name was accepted by the panel. No. 15, we suggested the name of Rohit Sharma. Gary Kirsten also felt it was a perfect selection. But the captain wanted Piyush Chawla. So immediately, Kirsten somersaulted. He said: ‘I think that’s a better choice.’ So, that is how Rohit Sharma got left out,” said Venkat.

“We didn’t get a chance to talk to him, but again we were also disappointed that we couldn’t select him. But when the captain and coach wanted Piyush as the 15th member, we all accepted it. Initially, we had selected the 15 which we all felt was the right one.”

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