"We need to stop watching television"- Yuvraj Singh on how Sachin Tendulkar helped India shut external pressure during 2011 World Cup

Former legendary all-rounder Yuvraj Singh was a part of the Indian team that won the 2011 World Cup and gave some sensational performances along the way, winning the Player of the Tournament award.

However, it wasn't all straightforward for the Men in Blue as they lost to South Africa in a league game that they should have probably won. Yuvraj claimed that the team faced heavy scrutiny from the media and that made legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar urge everyone to stop watching TV and reading news.

Speaking to The Week, here's what Yuvraj Singh had to say about Sachin Tendulkar's advice to the Indian team:

"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 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."

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Yuvraj Singh on Indian fan's perspective

Yuvraj Singh opined that sometimes Indian fans get a bit too harsh on the players as they think only the Men in Blue will win the World Cup. He urged them to understand that there are a number of other good teams as well and believes India will need to be at the top of their game to win the title.

On this, he stated:

"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."

India will kick off their World Cup campaign against Australia in Chennai on October 8.