For the second time in the history of cricket, India has won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in a thrilling final beating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets at the Wankhede Cricket Stadium in Mumbai, India. With this historic win, the ICC Cricket World Cup Champion 2011 Indian cricket team repeats history after 28 years. It can be mentioned here that India won cricket world cup for the first time in 1983 defeating West Indies. With this thrilling final, the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, which started on February 19, 2011, comes to an end.
The road to the championship wasn’t quite easy for the Indians. It was a perfect ‘nerve-wrecking’ final where India successfully chased 274, made by Sri Lanka in the stipulated 50 overs. India reached 277 for 4 with 10 balls to spare. The mainstay of this historic win was Indian captain M.S. Dhoni, who scored 91 runs in 79 deliveries with 8 fours and 2 sixes. Dhoni was well supported by Gautam Gambhir (97 runs in 122 balls), who missed a precious century just by 3 runs. Earlier the scintillating century from Mahela Jayawardena (103 not out from 88 balls) helped Sri Lanka reach a formidable score of 274 for 6. M.S. Dhoni was adjudged ‘Man of the Match’, while Yuvraj Singh got away with ‘Man of the Series’ award.
It has been a well deserved win for the Indian cricket team as they came into the ICC Cricket World Cup final 2011 by beating arch rival Pakistan in the ‘high voltage’ Semi Final and the world champion (2007) Australia in the Quarter Final. India’s Cricket World Cup win 2011 also gave Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar to be a part of a World Cup winning team for the first time in his 22-year cricketing career. With this emphatic win, ICC Cricket World Cup Champions 2011 also gave a perfect farewell to Indian coach Gary Kirsten, who bid adieu to Team India, the ICC Cricket World Cup winner 2011, as its coach.
It has been an amazing day of cricket for all the cricket lovers. And if you are a fan of Indian cricket team, it’s a special a day for sure.