Indian becomes World Champions in 2011
It had been 28 years since India had won the coveted World Cup trophy. In 1983, Kapil Dev and his team had brought much glory to the country, triggering off a limited-overs evolution in the nation. India reached the finals in 2003 World Cup under Sourav Ganguly, only to be road rolled by a rampaging Australia and then came the embarrassing outing in 2007 edition.
Sachin Tendulkar recalls Team India’s celebration after 2011 World Cup triumph
However, in 2011, the tournament was held at home and under MS Dhoni, the team had already won the ICC World T20 in 2007 and had formed a team capable enough to best the most in-form teams. The tournament proved to be a mixed bag at the start with a tie against England and a loss against South Africa. But Yuvraj Singh and Sachin Tendulkar carried the batting along with Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel doing their best with the ball.
India got their combination right just before the quarter-finals, in which Raina helped Yuvraj eliminate Australia in Ahmedabad and then Sachin played a brilliant knock of 85 in the semis agaisnt Pakistan, as India made into the finals for the third time. Despite a valiant century from Mahela Jayawardene and Lasith Malinga removing both Sehwag and Tendulkar for cheap at the start, Gambhir’s 97 and MS Dhoni’s 91* proved enough for India to get to the finishing line easily.
In the end, Dhoni hit Kulasekara for a six to win the match and India became World Champions for the second time after 28 years and the whole India celebrated the event like it was Diwali.
