GAUTAM GAMBHIR REVEALS HOW MS DHONI'S REMINDER STOPPED HIM FROM SCORING CENTURY IN 2011 WORLD CUP!

Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir, who played a prime role in the team's 2011 World Cup victory, revealed why he felt three runs short of scoring century against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

After India lost Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar for 31, Gambhir stiched a 109-run partnership with MS Dhoni before getting dismissed by Thisara Perera in the 42nd over of the match for 97 runs.

Gambhir said while he was at 97, Dhoni reminded him of the triple figure mark and that made his tense eventually leading to his dismissal.

"I have been asked this question many times, on what happened when I was on 97. I tell every youngster and every person that before getting to 97, I never thought about my own individual score but looked at the target set by Sri Lanka," Gambhir was quoted as saying by India Today.

"I remember that after the completion of one over, Dhoni told me that 'three runs are remaining, get these three runs and your hundred would be completed'."

"When your mind suddenly turns to your individual performance, individual score, then somewhere you have a rush of blood. Before that moment, my target was only to chase Sri Lanka's target. If only that target remained in my mind, maybe, I would have easily scored my hundred."

"Till I was on 97, I was in the present. But as soon as I thought that I am just three runs away from getting a hundred, the rush of blood caused by the desire to get to a hundred took over. That's why it's important to remain in the present... When I was walking back to the dressing room after being dismissed, I said to myself that these three runs would trouble me for the rest of my life and that is true. Even to this day, people ask me why I couldn't get those three runs."