On This Day In 2011, India Won The World Cup After 28 years

On This Day In 2011, India Won The World Cup After 28 years

On this day in 2011, India won the World Cup after 28 years by beating Sri Lanka in the finals at Wankhede Stadium by six wickets. It was India’s second World Cup victory that came under skipper MS Dhoni since 1983.

Batting first, Sri Lanka posted a commendable total of 274/6 in 50 overs riding on Mahela Jayawardene’s attacking 103 off 88 balls, adorning with 13 fours. Captain Kumar Sangakkara contributed with 48 runs in 67 balls while Kulasekara and Dilshan added decent 30s for the visitors.

In the pursuit of chasing 275 runs, India lost two early wickets in the form of great Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag within 6.1 overs. Tendlukar’s departure from his own ground made the whole stadium silent. But Gautam Gambhir showed resilience at no 3 and first stitched an 83-run stand with Virat Kohli who scored 35 runs. Then with MS Dhoni, he fabricated an important partnership of 109 runs for the 4th wicket. Gambhir fell short of four runs from his century while skipper MS Dhoni stayed till the end and finished the game in 48.2 overs with a six-over long-on off Nuwan Kulasekara. The whole of India went berserk and their eyes filled with tears upon seeing the Indian team winning the coveted trophy.

It was the dream of 1.2 billion people along with the great Sachin Tendulkar who was playing his World Cup.

Skipper MS Dhoni was conferred with the Man of the Match Award for his match-winning 91* off 79 balls.