Indian Cricket Team Creates History - In ICC World-cup - 2011
India are the new World Champions as they defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets in the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 at Mumbai. It was a record breaking final in more ways than one as it is the first time that a team has won the showpiece event on home soil.
Indian batsmen proved once again that they are one of the best in the business, especially on the flat tracks of the sub-continent. Indian chase was led by none else than their captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who steered his team home through an emphatic batting display.
Chasing an extremely competitive total at the Wankhede Stadium, India were off to a worst possible start as their premier batsman Virender Sehwag was sent back to the pavilion in the very first over of the innings. They faced another blow soon when the batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar was also dismissed cheaply.
Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli consolidated the innings for the home team from then onwards and laid the platform for the batsmen to follow. However, the best was yet to follow as Dhoni promoted himself in the batting order and played a gem of an innings. He along with Yuvraj Singh saw his team towards victory in style.
It was an ideal finish for India as their captain played the winning shot in shape of a massive six.
Gambhir was unlucky not to complete his hundred as he fell short by just three runs but his knock would be remembered for years to come as he proved that he is a player for the big stage.
The left hander remained the top scorer for his team as he made a brilliant 97 which came off 122 balls with the help of nine boundaries. However the star was Dhoni who remained unbeaten on 91 runs for which he used up only 79 balls in which he struck eight boundaries and a couple of towering hits out of the park.
Lasith Malinga picked up a couple of wickets for his team but lacked support from the other.
There were great scenes in Mumbai after the Indian win as it is the last World Cup for Sachin Tendulkar and his team gave him a great gift for sure.
