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'The special person is Sachin Tendulkar'
After playing a major role in India's World Cup triumph, a feat that fetched him the man of the tournament award, swashbuckling left-hand batsman Yuvraj Singh revealed he wanted to win cricket's most coveted title for senior teammate Sachin Tendulkar.
"Very sorry to disappoint you, guys. It was not for my girlfriend but for Sachin Tendulkar," he said, at a packed post-final media conference with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni sitting by his side.
Yuvraj had said after guiding the team to a great victory over defending champions Australia at Ahmedabad in the quarter-finals that he wanted to win the trophy for a "special person" and added the identity of the person would be revealed by him after the final.
'Sourav and MS have been helpful through my career'
Yuvraj specially thanked former India captain Sourav Ganguly and Dhoni for keeping faith in him when he was going through tough times.
"When I started my career, Sourav was the captain and he supported me a lot. When I went through ups and downs Mahi (Dhoni) supported me. Mahi has been a great captain. Whatever he touches turns into gold. Sourav and MS have been very helpful for my career."
"Last year, there were too many injuries, form was not great. I was banking on Ranji Trophy games. I got back to form at the right time," said the 29-year-old Chandigarh-born cricketer, who scored 369 runs in nine matches and also picked 15 wickets to display his all-round prowess in the tournament.
Yuvraj said he was not surprised by criticism when things did not go well for him.
"Criticism is part and parcel of the game. If you don't do much, the criticism comes to you. Now that we have won there won't be any criticism," he added.
Man of the Tournament award dedicated to Sachin, parents
Talking about the six-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the final, Yuvraj said: "We played like champions and we deserve to win. We batted like champions and we saved lots of runs at the field."
He dedicated his Man of the Tournament award to the team, his two gurus and parents.
"This (winning the 50-over format World Cup) is unbelievable. Under-19 World Cup, then Twenty20 World Cup but this is the most special," he said after the match.
"(This is) for Sachin, for everyone else in the team. I want to dedicate this to my Guru Ram Singh and Guru Ajit Singh and my parents and friends," he said.
'Tonight is going to be good night'
The Chandigarh-born player, who won four man-of-the-match awards for his stupendous show with the bat and ball in the tournament, was satisfied that he contributed to the team's success.
"We don't have a proper left-arm spinner and so it was my job to bowl 10 overs. Narendra Hirwani has been helping me and I have been working hard. I have done well and for that I am winning this trophy.
"Tonight is going to be good night. I don't want to disclose what we are going to do. But thank you India." he said.
'We wanted to make amends'
He said the team did not panic after the early dismissals of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag and the discussed how the players should avoid the mistakes committed during India's 2003 World Cup final loss against Australia in Johannesburg.
"Last time we were in World Cup final (in 2003), we made lots of mistakes. We wanted to make amends. Batting second is lot of pressure but Gauti and MS played outstandingly. They played like it was a normal game after the early dismissals," he said.