2011-cricket world cup India defeated Srilanka- the world champion
INDIAN LIONS did it in style and the Lankan tigers had to accept defeat at the hands of none other than the cool Indian captain M S Dhoni, who made sure the team India gets on to lift the World Cup 2011 in Mumbai amidst loud cheers and applause from the strong crowd present in the Wankhede stadium to witness the history being written. No doubt MS Dhoni scripted the history when he hit the winning six in the 49th over and India became the new World Champion after 28 years.
This also moved India up in the ICC ODI rankings and India captured the number one spot and now, the team India is number one in both the formats of the game i.e. test and one day. The victory was long overdue as we missed it in 2003 when Australia defeated us. But Saturday was our day and we made it. This victory is very special to every Indian because of many reasons. First, we lifted the cup by beating Pakistan. Second, we won our match from team Australia also. This gives immense satisfaction that we are now the real champions.
It was a tough road for MS Dhoni and his men as there was tremendous pressure on them to perform and to excel in front of the home crowd and that too in a tournament which is called the “World Cup,” it was never easy. But it was the patience and quality of tackling pressure now that the youngsters in the team have been able to that’s give the team a smooth sailing even in the rough time.
After losing the toss in the finals, as there was some confusion perhaps due to the noise from the crowd that toss had to be done again and when Lanka won it and decided to bat first, many looked at ease thinking it was better to know the target and then chase it off as per the plan.
As India has a long batting line up and the form in which our players were, people thought anything between 260-280 odd runs would be not bad for the Indian side.
After the brilliant century by Mahela Jayawardhane, it was the turn of Virendra Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar. There were lots of hopes from Sachin as it was his home ground but after Viru got out on a duck, there was complete silence in the stadium and all looked shocked as he got out LBW in the very first over of Lasith Malinga on the second ball. Soon, Sachin also fell prey to Malinga when India was 31 and the score on the board displayed India 31/2.
Then it was the crucial partnership of more than 90 runs between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli which stabilized the Indian innings and when Kohli got out, it was captain M S Dhoni who came out to rescue his team and he made sure that he remained there on the crease till Indian side reached the victory line. He batted brilliantly along with Gautam Gambhir and put India in a commanding position. Gambhir missed his century by three runs.
It was Dhoni and Yuvraj who finished the innings for India and a long dream for millions of Indian cricket fans came true Saturday night when these two made sure that no more wicket fell for India and India became the World Champion in a close fighting game.
It was a big-big win for Indian team. Right from the President and Prime Minister of India every body congratulated MSD and his team members for this historic win. BCCI has announced to give one crore each to the players, Rs 50 lakh to supporting staff and Rs 25 lakh to the selectors of the team.
The final match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 was played between India and Sri Lanka at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Sri Lanka have won the toss and elected to bat first. Sreesanth replaced Nehra for this match and Randiv replaced Matthews. The Indians bowled very well in the first 10 overs not giving away anything to the Lankans. Zaheer Khan was very impressive with three maiden overs and a wicket of Tharanga for just 2 runs from 20 balls. From there onwards, Dilshan and Sangakkara started building up and were looking good until Harbhajan picked up Dilshan and Yuvraj got Sagakkara out. Jayawardena came to the crease and started building up partnership with Samaraweera but soon Samaraweera became a victim of Yuvraj Singh. Nuwan Kulasekara joined with Jayawardena and both of played really well to get Lankans a fighting total in the final of the Cricket World Cup. In the process Jayawardean got to a brilliant 100 and Perera has added valuable 22 runs of just nine balls. They got nearly 60 runs in he batting powerplay and Sri Lanka posted 274/6 on the board in 50 overs.
Losing the wicket of Virender Sehwag in just the first over is really not a good start for India chasing a target of 275 runs in this very important final. Kohli joined Sachin and the little master looked to be very comfortable playing his shots nicely until he got picked up by Malinga. Sachin scored 18 runs of just 14 balls. Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli then batted really well and started getting a partnership which is very important at that point. Kohli played well and got out for 35 runs to Dilshan who took a splendid catch of his own bowling. MS Dhoni came to the crease and both Gautam and Dhoni started doing just the right thing picking up ones and twos and hitting boundaries when required. They went on exceptionally well not allowing any pressure to build up and not giving Sri Lankans the chance to attack them. In the process Gambhir go out for 97 runs falling just 3 runs shot of a hundred. Yuvraj Singh came to the crease and he along with Dhoni finished off the things and Dhoni gave India a win in style by hitting a six. India won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 by 6 wickets. The crowd celebrated the victory and there were some emotional scenes in the ground in the Indian team after winning the cup in 28 years gap.
Dhoni was awarded the Man of the match for his brilliant 91 runs in 79 balls. Yuvraj Singh with 15 wickets and 361 runs was given the Player of the Tournament award.