MS Dhoni: 5 finals! 5 masterstrokes! 5 victories! One man!

#3 Cricket World Cup 2011 Final- India vs Sri Lanka

Promoting himself at no. 5

The final match of ICC CWC 2011. The match that paused the entire nation. The match that rolled out tears of happiness from the faces of 1.2 billion people. Both the teams wanted to bid a perfect farewell to their respective legends. Whilst Sri Lanka wanted to win it for the great Muttiah Muralitharan, India wanted to fulfill God of Cricket’s dream of winning the world cup. The match was held at the iconic Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.

Sri Lanka was off to a slow start largely due to Zaheer Khan’s brilliant bowling spell. Each and every player from both the teams were giving their 100%. Even the youngsters like Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina were diving like Jonty Rhodes. India kept Sri Lanka in control until Jayawardene started to increase the tempo and began to play aggressively. Mahela repaid all the faith laid on him by the fans by scoring a scintillating century. Sri Lanka finished their innings on the score of 274.

Chasing 275 runs in 50 over in the final of a World Cup is never an easy task. India started their chase in the worst possible way as they lost Virender Sehwag on the second of the ball of the innings. Hopes were still alive as the master was still there. The way he hit that straight drive made us all feel that it his day. But! but! but! Malinga took Tendulkar's wicket! Tendulkar went at a slightly widish one and thick-edged behind it to Sangakkara. As the noise in the Wankhede Stadium dropped about 120 decibels, Malinga went on spiraling 50-yard victory charge. Fingers went numb, everyone shell-shocked, the memories of 2003 WC Finals started haunting all of us.

The Delhi boys Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli fought back and kept the hopes alive. That partnership was a heart in the mouth one but the way both of them batted, they deserve every sort of appreciation. Virat Kohli was dismissed after a splendid catch by Tilakratne Dilshan and the entire stadium went silent but with the silence was an accompanying hope that in-form Yuvraj Singh will come out and bail India out of trouble as he did on so many occasions throughout the tournament. But hang on! Out came the Indian Captain MS Dhoni. Dhoni has had a horrible tournament so far with the bat. This decision befuddled many of the fans. But what happened next is history!

Dhoni and Gambhir strung an ebullient partnership of 109 runs. With the help of this once-in-a-lifetime partnership, the duo took India to a position of safety. However, the Delhi batsman wasn’t able to complete his hundred as he was bowled by Thisara Perera on 97 runs. Dhoni and Yuvraj gradually started scoring quickly, and now 5 runs were required in the last 2 overs. The match and the World Cup was in India’s pocket. Yuvi took a single and gave the strike to Dhoni. 4 runs were required off 11 balls. N. Kulasekara with the ball, Dhoni on strike.

Dhoni smashed Kulasekara for a six! The wait was finally over! India had won the world cup! As Dhoni held his pose and rotated the bat, jubilation spread like wildfire in the whole country. The fireworks were off! Players were celebrating in the ground! Even the grittiest fans were not able to sabotage the happy tears from rolling out. The wait of 1.2 billion people was over. The god of cricket’s wait was over.

Sachin Tendulkar and Gary Kirsten were given the lap of the honor. Dhoni was adjudged the Man of the match for his sensational knock of 91 runs in 79 balls. Yuvraj Singh was given the award of Player of the tournament for his brilliant performance with both bat and ball. India had finally won the world cup after the wait of 28 years.