Suresh Raina on Friday (April 3) recollected the cherished moment of India’s 2011 World Cup victory on the ninth anniversary of the historic triumph.
It was India’s second World Cup win after 28 years and Raina had played a crucial role during the successful campaign. The southpaw scored an unbeaten 34 and 36 against Australia and Pakistan in the quarterfinal and semi-final respectively, helping his side reach the summit clash where India defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets to lift the coveted trophy.
Speaking to news agency PTI, Raina said: “Every year, we celebrate. Like the way we celebrate Holi and Diwali.”
He then went on to shower rich praise on left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan and all-rounder Yuvraj Singh. With 21 scalps to his name, Zaheer had finished the showpiece event as joint highest wicket-taker along with Shahid Afridi while Yuvraj was awarded Player-of-the-Tournament for his 362 runs and 15 wickets in the competition.
See Also: "Personal experience of 2003 helped while bowling in 2011 World Cup final" - Zaheer Khan
“Whatever decision we were taking, it was all going in our favour. Zaheer bhai led the bowling attack. Everyone was talking about our strong batting line up but I would say he was the Sachin Tendulkar of the bowling department, getting us the breakthrough every time. Then the biggest contribution came from Yuvraj, who took wickets and finished games,” Raina remarked.
Opener Gautam Gambhir and skipper MS Dhoni were the heroes in the final as they scored 97 and 91* respectively while chasing Sri Lanka’s stiff target of 275. Soon after Dhoni hit the winning six off Nuwan Kulasekara, most of the Indian players went numb with some of them even shedding tears at the Wankhede Stadium.
“Even though Sri Lanka put up a challenging total, everyone was calm in the dressing room. Someone was in the shower, someone was taking ice bath, someone was eating, yet everyone was thinking about the trophy, everyone in their zone and no one was talking to each other,” Raina recalled.
“There was just one goal and that was to win the trophy. There was pin drop silence when Sachin paaji got out but we remained calm. You should have seen the way Gautam Gambhir (who made 97) entered the field after Sehwag’s dismissal. He was so confident.”
“Seeing his body language, I thought he would win us the World Cup. Dhoni (who made 91) came ahead of an in-form Yuvraj, that was a big call but Dhoni told Gary Kirsten (coach) that he could play Muralitharan well so he went in. I still remember everything so vividly,” he concluded.
