India have won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 – their first World cup victory for 28 years – after they defeated Sri Lanka in a home final at Mumbai.
The Indian captain, Dhoni (91), brought up the victory with a maximum six runs as he smashed the ball into the stands, in the process taking the score to 277 for 4 in response to Sri Lanka’s 274 for 6, meaning that India won by six wickets.
The nerves were high from the very start, and a mixup as the toss meant that the players had to retake the toss, before Sri Lanka won and elected to bat.
Zaheer Khan was excellent from the very start, and picked up three maiden overs, and a wicket early, as Sri Lanka were a little slow to start, before picking up the run-rate in the final batting power play at the death to record what looked a competitive 274 for 6 on a pitch that looked like 260 or more would be a good total. They had much to thank Jayawardene for, however, as his 103 Not Out looked like it could well be a match winning contribution.
Not to be outdone at home, though, India, helped by a Gambhir 97 and a captain’s innings of 91 Not Out from Dhoni, were always in front of the Sri Lankan run-rate throughout their chase, and their fans went wild as their captain belted the ball over the ropes to bring home victory with 10 balls to spare.
India v Sri Lanka – ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Final Scorecard
| Sri Lanka 1st Innings | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | ||
| Tharanga | c Sehwag | b Z Khan | 2 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| Dilshan | b Harbhajan Singh | 33 | 49 | 3 | 0 | |
| Sangakkara | c Dhoni | b Yuvraj Singh | 48 | 67 | 5 | 0 |
| M Jayawardene | not out | 103 | 88 | 13 | 0 | |
| Samaraweera | lbw | b Yuvraj Singh | 21 | 34 | 2 | 0 |
| Kapugedera | c Raina | b Z Khan | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Kulasekara | run out (Dhoni) | 32 | 30 | 1 | 1 | |
| Perera | not out | 22 | 9 | 3 | 1 | |
| Extras | 2nb 6w 1b 3lb | 12 | ||||
| Total | for 6 | 274 | (50.0 ovs) | |||
–
| Indian Bowlers | O | M | R | W |
| Z Khan | 10 | 3 | 60 | 2 |
| Sreesanth | 8 | 0 | 52 | 0 |
| Patel | 10 | 0 | 48 | 0 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 9 | 0 | 43 | 1 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 10 | 0 | 49 | 2 |
| Tendulkar | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Kohli | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
–
| India 1st Innings | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | ||
| Sehwag | lbw | b Malinga | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Tendulkar | c Sangakkara | b Malinga | 18 | 14 | 2 | 0 |
| Gambhir | b Perera | 97 | 122 | 9 | 0 | |
| Kohli | c and b | Dilshan | 35 | 49 | 4 | 0 |
| Dhoni | not out | 91 | 79 | 8 | 2 | |
| Yuvraj Singh | not out | 21 | 24 | 2 | 0 | |
| Extras | 8w 1b 6lb | 15 | ||||
| Total | for 4 | 277 | (48.2 ovs) | |||
–
| Sri Lanka Bowlers | O | M | R | W |
| Malinga | 9 | 0 | 42 | 2 |
| Kulasekara | 8.2 | 0 | 64 | 0 |
| Perera | 9 | 0 | 55 | 1 |
| Randiv | 9 | 0 | 43 | 0 |
| Dilshan | 5 | 0 | 27 | 1 |
| Muralitharan | 8 | 0 | 39 | 0 |
India win by 6 wickets.
