India win the World Cup after 28 years
One Cup. A wait of 28 years. A thriller of a match. A massive sixer. And a 1.21 billion strong people forget their personal balance sheet of life to erupt in collective joy of a nation united by one religion-cricket.
It was a fairy tale end to a wait for decades on Saturday night as a nation sold completely on cricket kept its tryst with the World Cup win after 1983 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
A wave of emotions overflowed, fireworks lit up the sky and tears of joy rolled as Indian skipper M S Dhoni hit a massive over boundary to ensure India bring back the World Cup to the Subcontinent.
India parties again after close to three decades.
The entire stadium roared with joy as the magical winning score of 277 runs for the loss of four wickets was reached by Dhoni (91*) and Yuvraj Singh (21*).
Things did not look so comfortable for India at the start with Sehwag getting out in the second delivery of the Indian innings. He was soon followed by Sachin Tendulkar.
India after the dismissal of Tendulkar stood at 31 for the loss of 2 wickets.
Gautam Gambhir (97) and Virat Kokli (35) took charge of the Indian innings from that condition and slowly brought back the Men in Blue in the match.
The pair scored a partnership of 83 runs to give Indian innings an initial stability and balance.
After Kohli got dismissed by Dilshan, the Indian skipper, who looked completely out of tune all through the World Cup, marched the Indian innings forward with Gambhir.
Dhoni, who was also declared the Man of the Match at the end of the game, played a fighting innings of 91 unbeaten runs under pressure to drive his team to victory.
He was supported well by Yuvraj Singh (21*) after Gambhir got clean bold at 97 runs.
Dhoni and Yuvraj sailed India to the winning target of 277 runs in just 48.2 overs.
Earlier, Sri Lanka made a slow start to their innings with Zaheer bowling exceptionally well in the first spell.
However, Sreesanth who played in the place of injured Ashish Nehra looked absolutely way ward and inconsistent in this game.
Sri Lanka also had a bad start to the innings with Tharanga returning to the pavilion early in the game.
Dilshan started to give some amount of momentum to the innings with his 33 runs, but was picked up quickly by Harbhajan before getting too dangerous.
Jayawardene took charge of the innings since then and made Sri lanka reach a challenging 274 runs for the loss of six wickets by his brlilliant knock of 103 runs.
He was well supported by Sangakkara with his well crafted innings of 48 runs and by Kulasekara (32) later down in the order.
Sri lankan spinning wizard Muralitharan played the last One Day International match of his life on Saturday night as he had announced earlier that he will retire after the World Cup.
Murali bowled eight overs in the game and gave away only 39 runs.
Yuvraj Singh was named as the player of the tournament at the conclusion of the Cup.
M S Dhoni, who took many controversial decisions during the tournament, said there were plenty of questions on his decisions during the Cup, “but it is good to win.”
“It feels really good. Last one month we have done very well, spent time together in dressing room. These are memorable 35 odd days,” he said after winning the Cup, adding that “this was what we wanted to achieve.”
“My thinking was to give the youngsters chance. I wanted to bat slightly up the order,” Dhoni said.
“I am happy the number of runs I got,” he said speaking on his performance in the final.
He admitted that the beginning was tough with the loss of wickets but “Gautam batted brilliantly and with a bit of dew on the field” India came up winners.
After the win, Team India became highly emotional and some of the players burst into tears.
With tears in their eyes, the dedicated the Cup of Pride to the 1.21 billion plus nation on Saturday night.
“This cup is for them. I thank each and every Indian. This cup belongs to you guy. Love you India,” said Harbhanaj Singh who was moved to tears.
“Chak De! India,” shouted Virat Kohli as they all dedicated the victory to India and their very special man, Sachin Tendulkar.
“Winning the world cup is the ultimate thing. It is the proudest moment of my life. These are happy tears. I would not mind crying,” said Sachin Tendulkar, the cricketing god.
Man of the Series Yuvraj Singh was effusive.
“It is an unbelievable journey. We did it for Sachin and eveyone in India,” said Yuvraj Singh, a key member of the winning combination.
