Hyderabad: After a disastrous show in the Caribbean four years back, the World Cup returned to the Indian subcontinent with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh hosts of the showpiece event. 2011 World Cup was undoubtedly India's best-ever team performance in the grandest multilateral event of 50-overs cricket.
India, being the hosts, was the pre-tournament favourite. The star-studded side demonstrated flawless performance throughout the tournament, justifying their tag of home favourite. With each passing game, they showed promise and consolidated their chance of winning the Cup.
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The Men in Blue started their World Cup campaign with a bang in Dhaka. Batting stalwart Virender Sehwag and a young Virat Kohli battered Bangladeshi attack to help India post a massive 370 runs total on the board. Sehwag, staying true to his reputation, hammered Bangladesh during his 175 runs knock while Kohli announced his arrival in the mega event with a bang, smashing 100 in his debut World Cup game. India won the match by 87 runs.
India lost the thriller against South Africa by 3 runs. It was their only defeat in the 2011 World Cup. As the saying goes 'starting strong is good. Finishing strong is epic', India's campaign in the World Cup so aptly reflected author Robin Sharma's rationale.
But the World Cup was not supposed to be a duck soup. It was a tournament of equals. There were no easy opponents. Hence there was no room for slack attitude. But no team knew the oddity of the subcontinent better than India. After a humiliating group-stage exit from the 2007 World Cup, caused by horrific defeats to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the Indian team was expected to come strong at home this time around.
Match winning knocks by Indians in the 2011 World Cup. During their group stage matches, they performed brilliantly but suffered a shock defeat to South Africa in a cliffhanger and played out a draw with England in another high voltage clash at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Owing to these flabbergasting outcome in two games, India advanced to the knockout stage as the second-ranked side behind South Africa from Group B with four wins from six matches.
India vs Australia, Quarterfinal
In the quarterfinal, India were in front of defending champions Australia. It was a tough match for the hosts, given that Australia were four-time champions then. A poor show in Ahmedabad against the mighty Aussies would be enough to ruin the dream of a billion Indians. The fear of the 2003 World Cup final disaster was still fresh in the minds of Indians. But when the match underwent at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium, Indian players neutralised that fear coming heavily on the Aussies to outclass them in all departments.
Indian fans gathered at a mall to watch the India vs Sri Lanka final in Kolkata. Ricky Ponting hit a hundred but Indian bowlers, especially the spinners did a terrific job restricting them to 260 for 6. Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuvraj Singh and pacer Zaheer Khan scalped two wickets each.
India's reply was fantastic. Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir steadied India's chase scoring 53 and 50 respectively, while all-rounder Yuvraj Singh played the finisher's role playing out an unbeaten 57-run innings.
Yuvraj was ably supported by Suresh Raina who remained unbeaten on 34. India defeated Australia by 5 wickets with 14 balls remaining. Yuvraj Singh was adjudged Man of the Match for his all-round performance. With this thumping victory over Australia, the Men in Blue sealed their place in the semifinal.
India vs Pakistan, Semifinal
After thrashing Australia in the quarterfinal, India were well set to face archrivals Pakistan in the semifinal at Mohali, some 240km from the Pakistani city Lahore. It was the fourth time they were facing each other in the World Cup. As it was a politically charged match, the contest between India and Pakistan drew eyeballs from across the world. The high-octane clash was attended by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistan counterpart Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani. They sat side by side to watch the much-anticipated clash in an act of "cricket diplomacy."
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh during the semi-final between India and Pakistan in Mohali, India, on March 30, 2011. India, like the previous three occasions in the World Cup, knocked Pakistan over. Batting first India managed to post a modest 260 for 9. Sachin Tendulkar (85) and Virender Sehwag (38) laid out the foundation of Indian innings piling on 48 runs from the opening wicket partnership. Yuvraj Singh's untimely dismissal for a duck slowed down the pace of Indian innings for a while. However, captain MS Dhoni (25) and Suresh Raina (38) made sure bowlers get a good total to defend.
Pakistan's reply initially reflected the way Indian innings went. But dismissals of Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq and captain Shahid Afridi midway through their chase had put Pakistan behind in the game.
Their lower-order struggled to score against India's tight-knit bowling. Eventually, it was up to Misbah-ul-Haq to finish the things up. But Indian bowlers kept him in check, and Misbah was eventually dismissed in the fifth ball of the penultimate over, resulting in Pakistan losing the match by 29 runs.
This rollicking victory against Pakistan sparked a nationwide celebration. The moment was special to the Indian fans as the Men in Blue qualified for the final in the ODI World Cup for the first time after 2003.
Yuvraj Singh
When the Indian team was celebrating their win against Pakistan, Yuvraj Singh had been frequently vomiting. Indian players at the dressing room thought it might be a result of a bad stomach or stress. Only Yuvraj knew what he was going through. But for the sake of the team, he didn't reveal it to anyone.
Yuvraj Singh plays a shot against Australia during quarterfinal at Ahmedabad. When India had lifted the World Cup at the Wankhede, Yuvraj would reveal to the team and the world about his battle against lung cancer. But cancer couldn't prevent him from winning India the prestigious tournament for which he has fittingly adjudged the Man of the Tournament. Yuvraj scored 362 runs and took 15 wickets in the 2011 World Cup.
The final
India took on Sri Lanka in the final on April 2 at Wankhede, Mumbai and scripted history by becoming the first team to win the ICC Cricket World Cup at home. The Men in Blue defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets to win their second World Cup title in 28 years. While 33,000 spectators enjoyed the final from the ground, over one billion people watched it on TV, making the final one of the most-viewed sports events ever in the world.
The scoreboard of the India vs Sri Lanka 2011 World Cup final. Sri Lanka batting first struggled to score against Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel's nippy pace bowling. Zaheer's figures looked an incredible 5-3-6-1, which included the wicket of Upul Tharanga. Sri Lanka could manage to score only 31 runs at the end of 10 overs.
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They were reduced to 2 for 60 in the 17th over by Harbhajan Singh, and then Mahela Jayawardene played a blitzkrieg 103 runs knock off 88 balls to resurrect Sri Lanka's innings. Kumara Sangakkara and Thisara Perera launched a ferocious power-play assault on Zaheer Khan. In the final overs, Nuwan Kulasekara's 30-ball 32 helped Sri Lanka set a nerve-racking 275 runs target for India.
When India came to bat, Sri Lanka's reply was epic. Lasith Malinga, the man who left the world to see his bowling in awe in the 2007 World Cup, rocked the Indian innings early on sending Virender Sehwag back to the hut in the second ball of India's innings. India were reduced to 0 for 1.
India- the world champions In a span of six overs, Malinga struck again. This time whole of India was silenced as the country's talismanic batsman Sachin Tendulkar was caught behind by captain Sangakkara off Malinga. The entire Wankhede stadium stood stunned in utter disbelief.
As Sachin departed, the target 275 started looking so massive and unachievable. Then came the big match hero Gautam Gambhir who showed his determination and started taking on the Lankan bowlers. He got support from young Virat Kohli, a Delhiite, big on attitude. The Delhi duo added 62 runs from the fourth-wicket partnership. But Tillakaratne Dilshan's brilliant catch off his own bowling in the 22nd over brought an abrupt end to Kohli's innings. Once again Sri Lanka took control of the match. India were three down for 114, still, 161 runs away from the colossal victory.
Gautam Gambhir successfully reaches his crease during a run-out attempt in the final of the Cricket World Cup 2011 match between India and Sri Lanka on April 2, 2011. At this juncture of the match, MS Dhoni, who had a poor World Cup until the final, walked in and bulldozed Sri Lankan bowlers to snatch the game away from the islanders.
The Lankan players didn't have any option but to watch Dhoni hitting their bowlers all around the park and taking India close to the target. Gambhir, on the other hand, played deeper and made sure Dhoni doesn't lose tempo.
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Gambhir finally fell on 97, with India still 52 runs away from the historic victory. Finally, when the hero of the World Cup Yuvraj Singh walked in, the game tilted decisively in India's favour.
The pair of Dhoni and Yuvraj took India on the brink of victory. In the final overs, India required only three runs off 11 balls. The Lankans reshuffled their field placements in a desperate attempt to cut off the singles. A proven finisher Dhoni looked around him to check the field and checked on his gloves and pad, and then to the disbelief of Lankans, he launched a 'helicopter shot' off Kulasekara to send him down over the long-on boundary to the stand.
MS Dhoni hit six off Nuwan Kulasekara over long on boundary as India win their second World Cup title. The 1.3 billion people looked up to the sky, hearts firmly in their hands, as the white cherry flew over the long boundary into eternity. Yuvraj and Dhoni hugged each other in sheer joy. Off the stadium, a nationwide celebration began as India won the World Cup in its staple sports cricket for the second time after 1983.
April 2, 2021, marked the completion of one decade of India's World Cup victory on home soil.
By Sudipta Biswas
