Piyush Chawla Reveals How MS Dhoni Masterminded Jonathan Trott's Dismissal In The 2011 World Cup

Piyush Chawla, former Indian leg-spinner, recently recalled how MS Dhoni plotted the dismissal of Jonathan Trott in the 2011 World Cup fixture against England.

India locked horns with England in their second game of the 2011 World Cup at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Batting first, India, riding on the back of a brilliant hundred from Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, posted 338 in their 50 overs.

England got off to a brilliant start with Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen accumulating 68 runs for the opening wicket. Once Pietersen got out, Jonathan Trott joined the England captain at the crease. The duo racked up 43 runs for the second wicket and was looking prime for a long haul when MS Dhoni came up with a masterplan to dismiss Trott.

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Piyush Chawla on how MS Dhoni plotted Jonathan Trott’s downfall in the 2011 World Cup

Chawla revealed that Dhoni asked him to move the short fine-leg fielder to square-leg. A reluctant Chawla abided by the captain’s suggestion. But in a span of two deliveries, the leg-spinner realized what Dhoni meant when Jonathan Trott, in an attempt to play the ball towards the vacant short fine-leg area, got trapped leg-before-wicket. It was apparently a double bluff from the former Indian captain.

‘I was having a 45 [short fine-leg] for Trott. He [Dhoni] told me to move that [fielder] from there and get it to square-leg. I said, ‘I don’t need that’. He said, ‘No, just do that and bowl.’ And I got a square-leg instead of 45, and two balls later, he got out because he tried to play too fine,” Piyush Chawal told Wisden India.

”He told me he wasn’t keeping that square-leg to stop anything. It was just to show him [Trott] that gap so he tries to play it fine, and he ends up getting lbw,” said Chawla.

England, however, recovered from that blow thanks to a masterly 158 from Andrew Strauss. The England captain stitched a 170-run-stand for the 3rd wicket with Ian Bell but just as it looked like the visitors will pull off a major upset, Zaheer Khan [3-64] brought India back into the game with three quick wickets.

The game eventually ended in a nerve-wracking tie.

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