India Win World Cup in Style | Thebigtip

It was a long time between drinks, but well worth the wait for India, which defeated Sri Lanka with ten balls to spare in the 2011 Cricket World Cup, held in Mumbai, India.

India had not won a World Cup since 1983, when it defeated West Indies, but having the advantage of hosting the 2011 final, came up trumps against a worthy opponent.

Captain and man-of-the-match MS Dhoni played a sensational innings, scoring 91 runs off 80 balls in a courageous effort. He confidently entered the crease ahead of man-of-the-tournament Yuvraj Singh, who supported his captain efficiently when he joined Dhoni in the middle.

Sri Lanka batted first and the team was led by Mahela Jayawardene, whose brilliant 103 not out, off 88 balls, enabled the away team to score a competitive 274 runs.

India’s openers got off to a poor start, with Virender Sehwag out lbw for a duck and legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar caught for 18, but Gautam Gambhir’s knock of 97 off 122 balls ensured that India was back in the contest.

When the game was on the line, Dhoni delivered. The fans sang cheerfully, “Dhoni, Dhoni, Dhoni!” as he belted a four off a Kulasekara full toss in the 46^th over.

Fittingly, the captain hit the winning runs, smashing a six off Kulasekara to seal the victory.

Unfortunately for Sri Lanka’s spinning superstar Muttiah Muralitharan, he was unable to gain any individual wickets in his swan song, making little impact on the contest.

But while it was no fairytale for Muralitheran, the smile on Tendulkar’s face showed just what this win meant for the little master, who waited almost 20 years to win this cup.

“It is the proudest moment of my life” said Tendulkar.

Harbhajan Singh highlighted just what the win meant to the people of India.

“This world cup goes out to all of the people in India…this is for my nation” he said proudly.

The world cup final was the last match for Gary Kirsten as coach of India, who spent four years in the top position. Kirsten should be commended for his efforts and will go down in history as one of its nation’s most successful coaches.

The tournament was largely successful, however most believe that the tournament should not have lasted six weeks – a month would have been sufficient.

The other debacle was having the toss twice in the final. Fortunately it didn’t cost the Indians the match.

Our Australian team has plenty of improvement required if it is going to take the cup back in 2015.