Winning Cricket World Cup – 2011 the proudest moment of India

India on Saturday (02/04/11) defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets to claim the World Cup 2011 after 28 years.  India won its maiden cricket World Cup in 1983 at Lord’s. I was fortunate to watch both matches on TV. India’s 2011 World Cup victory was a glorious moment.

In the final, Sri Lankans won the toss and selected batting. The Indian fielders were simply outstanding. They dived (Yuvraj & co), chased (Sachin at his best feet) and took brilliant catches (Sehwag snatching the first wicket). Bowling (except Michael-Jackson-look-alike Sreesanth who is also a singer) was very good in line.  Batting (the best top seven) is unbelievable, best in ODI cricket. Though Sehwag was trapped plumb lbw for a duck in the second ball of the first over and Sachin was dismissed for 18 runs with the score at 31 for two in 6.1 overs, Gautam Gambhir helped India recover from a bad start in batting. A fifty-run partnership between Gambhir and Virat Kohli (35 runs) in 53 balls was a boon. India Captain MS Dhoni joined Gambhir to make 109-runs partnership leaving India needing 52 runs in 52 balls to win the match. Yuvraj (21 runs) finished the formality with Dhoni deservingly hitting the winning Six.  Gambhir (97 runs) and Man-of-the-match Dhoni (91) were the top scorers.  It was sheer great team effort and it was the only reason that India won the trophy.

The Indian Team Coach Gary Kirstein (former  South African cricketer) , mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton and bowling coach Eric Simmons had played major roles in realising the nation’s dream of winning the trophy second time. Thanks to Kirsten and his merry men. Credit goes to the players, support staff and of course the selection committee headed by former Indian captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth. Srikkanth attributed ‘consistency’ and ‘never say die attitude’ of the team as the reasons for India winning the World Cup at Mumbai on 02/04/2011.

We are sorry for Sri Lankan Team that they could not win the World Cup for the great bowler Muttiah Muralitharan, who played his last international match on 02/04/2011. We are very proud to win the cup as a tribute to batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, the 37-year old, who has been a part of six World Cups. A jubilant, emotional and excited Sachin described the triumph as the best moment of his career.

Snippets: India won its maiden cricket World Cup in 1983 at Lord’s and its second World Cup victory in 2011 at Wankhede, Mumbai on 2^nd April.

Yuvraj was adjudged as Man of the tournament for scoring a total of 369 runs in 9 matches and also picking up 15 wickets.

Along the way, India defeated the only four other teams to have won the World Cup, namely the West Indies (in group match), Australia (in quarter-final), Pakistan (in semi-final) and Sri Lanka (in final).

India is the only host country so far to win the World Cup in its soil. 

Dhoni and his team won T20 World cup, IPL cup and now cricket World Cup. India is doing well in shooting, badminton, lawn tennis, hockey, football and cricket. Hats off to India.