“Stop Watching…”: Yuvraj Singh Recalls Sachin Tendulkar’s Advice That “Really Worked” During 2011 World Cup | Cricket News

Team India is all set for the Cricket World Cup 2023, starting October 5. The Rohit Sharma-led side is set to take on England and Netherlands in two warm-up matches ahead of the mega event. It will be a big opportunity for India to win an ICC title after a gap of more than eight years. The last time India won an ICC trophy was way back in 2013 – a Champions Trophy title. Talking about World Cup, India last won the coveted trophy in 2011, in the ODI format.

Ahead of the start of India’s campaign in Cricket World Cup 2023, former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has recalled how legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar guided his teammates to keep themselves away from distraction during 2011 World Cup.

“Now, distraction is a bit more because that time there was no social media. There was distraction with media and people. We were trying to focus on the game, and in the World Cup, we had lost to South Africa – a game we should have won. The media started to go berserk. Sachin (Tendulkar) sat down with the team and said, ‘We need to stop watching television, stop reading the papers. Use our headphones when we are going through crowds in airports. Just focus on the World Cup’. The team agreed, we just followed that and it really worked,” Yuvraj told The Week.

“Because there’s anyway so much pressure. Problem with India is that, people think only Indian team will win. It’s a big World Cup, there are so many good teams out there, and we got to be really focussed on your tasks at hand” he added.