“Enjoy”- Harbhajan Singh reveals Gary Kirsten’s mantra before the 2011 WC final

“Enjoy”- Harbhajan Singh reveals Gary Kirsten’s mantra before the 2011 WC final

Harbhajan Singh and Gary Kirsten

India played against Sri Lanka in the final of the 2011 World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium and MS Dhoni’s Men in Blue lifted the trophy after 28 years. That World Cup has so many memories and fans and cricketers love to revisit the moments. India defeated Pakistan in the semi-final to reach the finals.

Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh revealed an untold story of the then coach Gary Kirsten. The off-spinner recalled that ahead of the clash against Sri Lanka, there were no team meeting and Gary Kirsten just told everyone to ‘enjoy’.

“When we played the final after defeating Pakistan, players had no pressure whatsoever. In fact, there was no team meeting. We just got together and Gary (Kirsten) said- “Enjoy”. That’s it. The meeting just had “enjoy” in it,” Harbhajan said on Star Sports in their show “Dil Se India”.

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“I booked one for Lahore”- Harbhajan Singh recalls Shoaib Akhtar’s request for World Cup 2011 final tickets

Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh and Shoaib Akhtar

Harbhajan Singh then told the story of former Pakistan spearhead Shoaib Akhtar who had asked the spinner to arrange tickets for him and his family for the 2011 World Cup semi-final. Akhtar had asked him arrange tickets for semi-final, which he did, then the Pakistani pacer came to ask for tickets for the final as well.

“When Akhtar met me, he said: ‘There’s a lot of pressure but not about the match. It’s about getting tickets’. He told me that his family was coming from Pakistan and I agreed to arrange a couple of tickets for him. Thereafter, he asked me if I can get him tickets for the next match (final) as well. I asked him ‘you’re going to Mumbai?’ to which he responded ‘yes, that’s where the final is’,” said Harbhajan.

“I laughed and avoided his request but wondered ‘why is he so confident?’. But I saw the next day that he (Shoaib) wasn’t even playing the semi-final. I arranged a ticket but it wasn’t for the final. I booked one for Lahore,” he added.

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