YES ! The month long celebration of the greatest event in the cricketing world, has come to an end. And for the whole nation of 1.2 billion ending it on a smiling note ! INDIA wrapped up the ICC World Cup 2011, as the winning side. And then again, proved that the favorites tag, wasn't just a tag!
The journey began way back around 49-days back, on February 19th. The first match was between two of the hosting nations, India vs Bangladesh. And that match was a Sehwag blitzkrieg. 175 runs in the opening match. It was a pure indication that the journey of triumph had begun!
Then, it was a thrilling passage through the group stages for the Men in Blue throughout the tournament. With all the cricket fans, expecting to watch the Little Master perform out of bounds and win, in his sixth time at the global event, the expectations were high. Dhoni & Co. had a task at hand, and that was a very different one. Though the Indian team were the favorites for many people across the globe, both from the cricketing and the non-cricketing arena, it was not a question of domination. The tournament was altogether an OPEN one. Because teams like South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, England, along with India, were considered to be having the potential to take home the World Cup this time. Thus, the competition was also really fierce.
The journey of Team India from Mirpur to Mumbai, constituted of just one loss to South Africa and featured a unique tie, against England. The irony is that, in both these matches came brilliant tons from Tendulkar. With strong criticisms and accusations of poor decisions, Dhoni went forward boldly with many of his ideas and strategies. Acceptance of mistakes, being cool all the time, signs of a perfect leader were always visible in him.
With the end of the group stages, the top 8 teams of the tournament, were geared up for the clash in the Quarter-finals. India was geared up for a fight against Australia. And at the end, it turned out to be a sweet revenge for the 2003 World Cup finals. India beat Australia by 5 wickets, with Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina playing major parts in the end of the match.
And that win, lead to the most-watched, most-exciting, most-loved and most-waited match of the tournament in the semi-finals. It was INDIA vs PAKISTAN in the second semi-final of the tournament. The whole world was going into this match, with the news of Sri Lanka winning against New Zealand in the first semi-final, making their second consecutive appearance in the World Cup finals. And the country witnessing fair amount of Cricket diplomacy during the match, with the Pakistan delegates coming to watch the match and also having discussions with their Indian counterparts. The India - Pakistan match saw Sachin Tendulkar topping the Indian innings. Though through the innings, he got close to 5 lives, it seemed his day, but destiny didn't favor and he was dismissed at 85.
But the cream of the cake was had by India by defeating Pakistan by 29 runs. The crowd was roaring. And India had progressed to their third finals in the World Cup history. A clash against Sri Lanka on Sachin's home turf, the Wankhede Stadium at Mumbai, was on the charts. The pressure mounting and all over the country, the wishes of over a billion people for India to win the World Cup was to be seen all over. But Sri Lanka reaching the finals in the 2007 edition as well, and facing a loss to Australia there, they were adamant to put up a good fight and win.
Atlast the day came. 2nd April 2011. The day when India - Sri Lanka final was scheduled. The expectations of the whole country was shown there as an example during the toss itself. The crowd was erupting so much, that the toss call of "Heads" by Kumar Sangakkara wasn't heard ! And hence, the toss has to be put up again. But Sri Lanka ended winning the toss and elected to bat.
The start of the Sri Lankan innings was something of a slow paced movie. They almost scored their lowest mandatory power-play in the first 10 overs, of just 34 runs and a total of 100 coming up only in the 24th over, they were poised to put on a small score that India could eclipse easily. But a wonderful 100 by Jayawardena managed Sri Lanka to get through to a score of 274/6 at the end of 50 overs. There was a massive pile up of 63 runs off the last 5 overs, which was also the Batting Power-play.
Due to a slow over-rate during the Sri Lankan innings, the Indian openers were to be on the crease, after just a 20-minutes break. Sehwag and Sachin walked on to the crease, with a billion hearts pumping like anything. On the 2nd ball of the innings, India was stunned !!! Sehwag was struck LBW by Malinga. Even the UDRS couldn't save him, and he was ruled out. First Blow ! Then came out Gambhir. Hereafter, Sachin also looked in a good form, with 3-4 boundaries, and the crowd was back in it's full form. 30 odd runs were put on the scoreboard. And in the 7th over, India got it's Second Blow ! Malinga strikes again. Sachin Tendulkar was caught behind off the first ball of the over. The whole nation almost dropped its head in disappointment. Hearts were broken as the two major spearheads of the Indian innings were gone !!
But Gambhir and Kohli played boldly with all the expectations of the country. The built up a 83-run partnership for the 3rd wicket, before Kohli was gone. Then the whole Wankhede crowd was expecting the in-form Yuvraj Singh to step onto the middle, but everyone was surprised to see the Indian skipper M.S.Dhoni on the crease. Dhoni had promoted himself up the order and that proved to be a gem of a move. Contrary to his previous performances during the tournament, Dhoni was immovable on that day. Playing with class and putting up a brilliant 109 runs partnership along with Gambhir!! Unfortunately, Gambhir got out when the score was 223, missing out on his deserved century by just 3 runs. Then came Yuvraj onto the middle. And the rest of the innings seemed to be the most amazing moments of the magnamopus of cricket. With 4 runs needed to win, Dhoni pulled off a massive strike and put the ball over the boundary for a brilliant six! And history was created !!!!!!!
The journey began way back around 49-days back, on February 19th. The first match was between two of the hosting nations, India vs Bangladesh. And that match was a Sehwag blitzkrieg. 175 runs in the opening match. It was a pure indication that the journey of triumph had begun!
 |
| Sehwag's rollicking 175 against Bangladesh |
The journey of Team India from Mirpur to Mumbai, constituted of just one loss to South Africa and featured a unique tie, against England. The irony is that, in both these matches came brilliant tons from Tendulkar. With strong criticisms and accusations of poor decisions, Dhoni went forward boldly with many of his ideas and strategies. Acceptance of mistakes, being cool all the time, signs of a perfect leader were always visible in him.
With the end of the group stages, the top 8 teams of the tournament, were geared up for the clash in the Quarter-finals. India was geared up for a fight against Australia. And at the end, it turned out to be a sweet revenge for the 2003 World Cup finals. India beat Australia by 5 wickets, with Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina playing major parts in the end of the match.
 |
| Yuvraj Singh during the India-Australia clash in the Quarter finals |
But the cream of the cake was had by India by defeating Pakistan by 29 runs. The crowd was roaring. And India had progressed to their third finals in the World Cup history. A clash against Sri Lanka on Sachin's home turf, the Wankhede Stadium at Mumbai, was on the charts. The pressure mounting and all over the country, the wishes of over a billion people for India to win the World Cup was to be seen all over. But Sri Lanka reaching the finals in the 2007 edition as well, and facing a loss to Australia there, they were adamant to put up a good fight and win.
Atlast the day came. 2nd April 2011. The day when India - Sri Lanka final was scheduled. The expectations of the whole country was shown there as an example during the toss itself. The crowd was erupting so much, that the toss call of "Heads" by Kumar Sangakkara wasn't heard ! And hence, the toss has to be put up again. But Sri Lanka ended winning the toss and elected to bat.
The start of the Sri Lankan innings was something of a slow paced movie. They almost scored their lowest mandatory power-play in the first 10 overs, of just 34 runs and a total of 100 coming up only in the 24th over, they were poised to put on a small score that India could eclipse easily. But a wonderful 100 by Jayawardena managed Sri Lanka to get through to a score of 274/6 at the end of 50 overs. There was a massive pile up of 63 runs off the last 5 overs, which was also the Batting Power-play.
Due to a slow over-rate during the Sri Lankan innings, the Indian openers were to be on the crease, after just a 20-minutes break. Sehwag and Sachin walked on to the crease, with a billion hearts pumping like anything. On the 2nd ball of the innings, India was stunned !!! Sehwag was struck LBW by Malinga. Even the UDRS couldn't save him, and he was ruled out. First Blow ! Then came out Gambhir. Hereafter, Sachin also looked in a good form, with 3-4 boundaries, and the crowd was back in it's full form. 30 odd runs were put on the scoreboard. And in the 7th over, India got it's Second Blow ! Malinga strikes again. Sachin Tendulkar was caught behind off the first ball of the over. The whole nation almost dropped its head in disappointment. Hearts were broken as the two major spearheads of the Indian innings were gone !!
But Gambhir and Kohli played boldly with all the expectations of the country. The built up a 83-run partnership for the 3rd wicket, before Kohli was gone. Then the whole Wankhede crowd was expecting the in-form Yuvraj Singh to step onto the middle, but everyone was surprised to see the Indian skipper M.S.Dhoni on the crease. Dhoni had promoted himself up the order and that proved to be a gem of a move. Contrary to his previous performances during the tournament, Dhoni was immovable on that day. Playing with class and putting up a brilliant 109 runs partnership along with Gambhir!! Unfortunately, Gambhir got out when the score was 223, missing out on his deserved century by just 3 runs. Then came Yuvraj onto the middle. And the rest of the innings seemed to be the most amazing moments of the magnamopus of cricket. With 4 runs needed to win, Dhoni pulled off a massive strike and put the ball over the boundary for a brilliant six! And history was created !!!!!!!
INDIA WIN THE ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP 2011 !!!
The wait for the cup, 28-year old for the nation and a 22-year old one for the cricketing maestro Sachin Tendulkar had come to an end. The World Cup was coming home again. And thus, India became the first country to win the World Cup on their home soil, to be only the third nation to win the cup by successfully chasing a highest score in a World Cup final and M.S.Dhoni became the first wicket-keeper-batsman captain to lift the world title! The stats were all part of it, but the feeling of conquering the world was being dipped into the minds of every Indian.
The dream of the Indian cricket players had come true and it truly was an emotional moment for everyone when they said that, they all did it for one man, SACHIN TENDULKAR. The man had all the coveted titles and records in his bag, except this one. And they didn't want him to finish his probably-last World Cup. But we all wish that he continues to play many many more games.
Courtesy for images: World Wide Web, The Hindu
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