“DHONI FINISHES OFF IN STYLE. A magnificent strike into the crowd, India lifts the World Cup after 28 years. The party starts in the dressing room and it’s been the Indian captain who has been magnificent in the night of the final.”
Ravi Shastri’s words still reverberate in our minds. A dam of emotions burst. Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and others are in tears. The otherwise stoic face of MS Dhoni has grim in his eyes. April 2, 2011, is a date etched in the memories of Indians forever.
Twenty-eight years since Kapil Dev’s men lifted the cup at Lord’s, India were reliving the jubilation.
Nine years on, let us travel down the memory lane to enjoy some of the lesser-known facts from 2011 World Cup Final.
DOUBLE TOSS AT WANKHEDE
The Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai was a sea of blue. Indian captain MS Dhoni with his Sri Lankan counterpart Kumar Sangakkara came out for the toss. Dhoni tossed the coin but Jeff Crowe, the match referee, could not hear the call from the Lankan skipper. After a short conversation, a re-toss was decided. Sanga called it right and decided to bat.
OPTIMISTIC YUVRAJ SINGH
Decision Review System (DRS) is often called Dhoni Review System by the fans. The name stems from Dhoni’s impeccable accuracy with the system. But this World Cup was all about Yuvraj.
During the Sri Lankan innings, the partnership between Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera had reached 52. Yuvraj bowled the 39th over and the first ball hit Samaraweera’s pads. Yuvi appealed Simon Taufel for a leg before. Taufel felt otherwise. A confident Yuvraj turned to Dhoni to ask a review, but the Indian skipper wasn’t convinced. Yuvraj kept pressing and convinced Dhoni for the review. It was out. Yuvi had struck again!
SACHIN TENDULKAR MISSED MAJORITY OF INDIA’S INNINGS
While the Indian team were playing for Tendulkar, the master himself wasn’t watching the match. Tendulkar wasn’t watching the game live from the dressing room.
“Unfortunately, I missed that last moment. I was not watching it live even though I was inside the stadium. I was praying. I was a little superstitious because when we were playing Australia in Ahmedabad, I was not watching. I would put my head down on the massage table and was being attended to by the team physio. Viru had been sitting next to me. I continued the same in the World Cup final,” Tendulkar had once said.
GAMBHIR WAS NOT EVEN READY TO BAT
Gautam Gambhir was the match’s hero with a fine 97 that set the tone for India’s chase. Gambhir was still getting padded up when Virender Sehwag got dismissed.
“We were chasing 275 and I was not even ready when Viru got out LBW in the second delivery. I was still padding up. Because the decision was a referral, I got the time to get ready," Gambhir once said. But on the very first delivery, Gambhir smacked Lasith Malinga for a boundary. The rest is history.
PIYUSH CHAWLA’S LOVE FOR THE JERSEY
Piyush Chawla was a part of India's World Cup-winning squad and managed to grab four wickets from three matches in the tournament. He did not take off his Indian jersey after the win and slept the whole night with the winner’s medal on.
“When the ceremony was on, the champagne bottles were opened on the stage itself. I was drenched in. I didn’t take off my India jersey that night. I got everyone’s signature on that and I went to sleep with the jersey and the medal on," Chawla once recalled.
