The wait of 28 years finally ended after MS Dhoni smashed a six against Nuwan Kulasekara as India finally won their second ODI World Cup title at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 2, 2011. Hosting the tournament along with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, India also became the first nation to win the World Cup title in front of their home crowd.
In 1983, India stunned West Indies at the Lord's to win their first-ever Cricket World Cup title. However, the Indian team and its fans had to wait for almost three decades to win the title for the second time. In 2003, the fans again got hope as India reached their second final, but the dreams were broken as Men in Blue couldn’t stop the inevitable Australian. Although India won the T20 World Cup in 2007, the fans were still awaiting that prestigious ODI trophy. The wait finally ended, when India got a chance to host the World Cup in 2011 along with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Sachin Tendulkar’s last tournament; Yuvraj Singh’s heroics made 2011 World Cup victory memorable for Indian fans
Being the hosts side, India had a great campaign through the 2011 ODI World Cup and made it into the final after defeating arch-rival Pakistan in the semi-final. Now, all eyes were on the title clash between India and Sri Lanka at Wankhede Stadium. This was also a special tournament as it was the last ICC event of India’s batting great Sachin Tendulkar, who was yet to get his hands on the World Cup title.
In the final, Sri Lanka posted 274/6 in 50 overs, thanks to Mahela Jayawardene’s 103*(88) runs. Now, coming to chase the winning target on a big final, India lost both their openers including Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar inside seven overs. After that, Guatam Gambhir and young Virat Kohli (35 off 49) put up a partnership of 83 runs. After that, skipper MS Dhoni came ahead of in-form batter Yuvraj Singh and added 109 runs along with Gambhir. Nearing his hundred, Gambhir got out after scoring 97(122) runs. After that, Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh gave finishing touches as India crossed the finishing line in 48.2 overs. With four runs needed off the last 11 balls, Dhoni smashed that famous six against Nuwan Kulasekara as India finally got a moment of joy after 28 years.
This World Cup victory was special for the Indian team in many ways as this was last time Sachin Tendulkar was playing an ICC tournament. In his final ODI tournament, Sachin finally ended up winning the prestigious World Cup trophy for which he started playing cricket. Apart from that, all-rounder Yuvraj Singh was adjudged Player of the Tournament for his contribution of 362 runs and 15 wickets. This also turned out to be a memorable performance as Yuvraj was facing several issues with his health during the tournament and was later diagnosed with cancer.
