14 May 2011 World Cup Final Review
The 2011 One-Day World Cup Final was an international match played between India and Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Every Indian was hoping that India would win this match and lift the World Cup after 28 years. The match was held on Saturday, 2nd April 2011 and it was the tenth edition of the World Cup.
The Sri Lankan captain, Kumar Sangakkara, won the re-toss and decided to bat first which was a good idea. Sri Lanka started the innings slowly. The Lankan opener, T.Dilshan, was bowled by Harbhajan Singh. Then the Sri Lankan captain, Kumar Sangakkara, came at the crease and was building a solid foundation with Dilshan before Dilshan got out. The team scored slowly until 17 overs and lost both their openers. But Sangakkara added 62 runs with Mahela Jayawardene before being dismissed for 48. But Mahela continued his quality batting and scored a century. Jayawardene and Thisara Peresa were involved in a partnership of 66 runs and took Lanka’s total to 274 runs, finishing with a six in the last ball of Sri Lanka’s innings.
On the other hand, when India started they did not have a good start. They lost both the openers, Sachin and Virendra, in just 31 runs. Virat Kohli and Gambhir started to recover the innings by playing beautiful shots. They took India to 114 runs, before Kohli gave away his wicket to Dilsan after scoring 35 runs. They both put together a 83 run partnership before Kohli’s dismissal. Dhone came in after Kohli to bat at number five, which was usually Yuvraj Singh’s place. It was Dhoni’s idea because if Yuvraj had come to the crease, it would have been easier for the Sri Lankan team as both Yuvraj and Gambhir were left-handed batsmen. Both Dhoni and Gambhir emphasised on preserving the wickets and later, accelerated the flow of boundaries. Gambhir was dismissed when his run was 97. When he stepped out of crease, India needed 52 runs from 52 balls. They both played carefully with some nice shots. Dhoni finished the match in style by hitting a six when 4 runs were needed in 11 balls.
India won the World Cup for the first time after defending West Indies in 1983. India won the second ODI World Cup after 28 years. Every Indian was very delighted with this victory. India became the first team to win a cricket World Cup in their own country. They won the match by six wickets with 10 balls remaining. Other than India lifting the World Cup, every cricket fans loved Kumar Sangakkara’s smile, signifying true sportsmanship. Even though he lost back to back two World Cup finals, he did not lose the smile of his face. However, the party began as India won the World Cup and 2nd April became a remarkable date in Indian cricket history.
By: G. Jeshith Varma from X A