World Cup 2011 final between India and Sri Lanka may have ended with clarity, but the start was a bit confusing one. When captains from both sides, MS Dhoni and Kumar Sangakkara came out for the toss, confusion regarding the call happened.
Speaking about the incident with R Ashwin on Instagram Live, the ex-Sri Lanka captain said Dhoni asked for another attempt after the miscommunication because of loud crowd happened.
“The was crowd was huge. It never happens in Sri Lanka. Once I had this at Eden Gardens when I could not talk to the first slip and then of course at the Wankhede. I remember calling on the toss then Mahi wasn’t sure and said did you call tail and I said no I called the head,” Sangakkara said.
“The match referee actually said I won the toss, Mahi said he did not. There was a little bit of confusion there and Mahi said let’s have another toss of the coin and heads went up again,” he added.
“I am not sure whether it was luck that I won. I believe probably India might have batted if I had lost,” the former left-handed batsman further said.
India won the final after skipper Dhoni and opener Gautam Gambhir smashed 91* and 97, respectively in a high-pressure chase. When Dhoni hit the winning hit, Sangakkara could be seen standing in the frame with a smile.
When asked how he took the defeat, Sri Lanka great said, ”Whether we win or lose, we have this equilibrium on how to take a win or loss. The smile hides a huge amount of sadness, of disappointment, of thinking of 20 million people back in Sri Lanka who had been waiting for this for so long, since 1996. We had an opportunity in 2011, opportunity in 2007, then T20 opportunities in 2009 and 2012.”
