Indian cricket's most iconic moments at the Wankhede

For years, the city of Mumbai has had great cricketing tradition. Budding cricketers can be seen practicing on its grounds all day long, with inputs from their coaches. The coaches are highly respected, for, it is them who have produced the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Vijay Merchant, Polly Umrigar and Ajit Wadekar, to name a few.

The Wankhede Stadium has been one of the major pillars of the Indian cricketing fraternity. It first hosted a Test match in 1975 and, since then, has successfully conducted many international and domestic matches.

The ground is located near the beautiful Marine Drive and hence, experiences wind throughout the day. This stadium is also fortunate to have one of the most amazing sports crowd in world cricket. The fans love their game and their players.

The Wankhede has been one of the most romantic venues in Indian cricket and has witnessed some truly wonderful moments.

This slider looks at the most iconic moments in Indian cricket at this Mumbai venue.

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#5 Virat Kohli's 235 vs England, 2016

With the help of debutant Keaton Jennings's century and half-centuries from Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler, England managed a decent first innings total of 400 in the Mumbai Test in 2016. India, in reply, started off decently against the visitors with the bat. When Cheteshwar Pujara was dismissed, the scorecard read 146-2.

The fall of the second wicket meant that the Indian skipper walked in. He and Murali Vijay kept toiling against the English bowlers. The two added 116 runs between them before Adil Rashid caught the Tamil Nadu opener off his own bowling. Despite that wicket, India looked in control. But, there was a twist in the tale.

England took four quick wickets, while India still trailed by 36 runs. Virat Kohli continued playing some brilliant strokes and reached the three-figure mark. He knew that it was only a job half-done and managed to find an able partner in Jayant Yadav.

As he had done all innings, Kohli reached his 150 with a marvellous on-drive. This sheer dominance displayed by Kohli led to tiredness amongst the English player. The Indian captain, though, showed no mercy as he reached his third double century. Meanwhile, Jayant too reached his century.

Before getting out on 235, the skipper had taken his team's lead over 200. The Indian bowling attack ran through the English batting line-up, with Ravichandran Ashwin scalping six wickets. India, very convincingly, won the Test match by an innings and 36 runs.

#4 Vinod Kambli's 224 vs England, 1993

This was the final game of three-match series between India and England. India already had a lead of 2-0 in the series. The team still had a lot to play for in front of its home crowd. England won the toss and chose to bat.

A brilliant inning from Graeme Hick at number six took England to a total of 347. Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble shared six wickets between them, and the onus was on the batsmen to consolidate the team's position. India had a good start to their innings, as Navjot Singh Sidhu and Manoj Prabhakar added 109 runs for the first wicket, before Prabhakar was caught of Hick's bowling.

At the fall of the first wicket, the local boy, Vinod Kambli walked in. It was just his third Test match for India, and the first on his home ground. At the end of the second day, Kambli was unbeaten on 20. Even in the small innings of twenty, he had shown his intentions by playing some fearless strokes. The 21-year looked set for something big.

At the fall of Sidhu's wicket, Kambli was joined by Tendulkar. The Mumbai boys were out there together. Vinod Kambli continued his fluent stroke play. He drove the fast bowlers to the off side with utmost ease. Tendulkar was still with him when he reached his century. The two school friends were doing it for India. The crowd was going berserk.

At the end of the third day, Azharuddin was accompanying Kambli. On the morning of day four, Lewis got rid of Azharuddin, and Pravin Amre joined Kambli. The younger Mumbaikar was a bit nervous as he neared his maiden double century.

He finally reached the mark with a single to the third man. The Wankhede crowd were on their feet. He added 24 runs to his double before getting out. India were dismissed for 591. England weren't challenging enough to get over that lead, as the hosts won by an innings and 15 runs.

#3 Ravi Shastri's six sixes vs Baroda, 1985

Long before Herschelle Gibbs and Yuvraj Singh hit six sixes in an over, Ravi Shastri had done it. He was only the second player after Sir Garfield Sobers to do so.

He did it for Mumbai against Baroda in the 1984-5 Ranji trophy season. It was Mumbai's turn to bat in the third innings. They led by a small margin of 30 runs. Ravi Shastri did not get a chance to bat in the first innings. He made sure that he more than made up for it in the second innings.

He brought up his hundred in 80 balls. He was on 147 when Tilak Raj, the Baroda spinner came to bowl. Shastri went after him as if there was no tomorrow. He managed to send all six deliveries over the ropes. The positioning of all these shots was between the straight leg-side field and long on.

From 147, the Mumbai batsman had moved on to 183. Within no time, he reached his double century. In the process, he also created the record for the fastest double century in first-class cricket. He reached it in 123 balls and 113 minutes.

Baroda just managed to escape from defeat as the scorecard for them read 81/7 at the end of the game.

Though Ravi Shastri achieved many accolades throughout his career, this feat ranks amongst the biggest moments of his cricketing journey.

#2 Sachin Tendulkar's retirement, 2013

It was 14th November when India took on the West Indies at the Wankhede. It was Sachin Tendulkar's 200th and last Test match. This match was nothing short of a national event. The crowd thronged the ground in thousands. Every cricket fan wanted to be a part of that grand setting.

India won the toss and decided to field first. The decision meant that the world had to wait to see Sachin bat. India bundled out West Indies for just 182. It was India's turn to bat and they were 77 when the second wicket fell.

The dismissal meant that Tendulkar walked out to bat on the first day itself. It was then, all about one man as the atmosphere was touching heights of unimaginability. The emotions flew, the crowd noise grew and the prayers commenced. The evergreen chants of Sachin filled the stadium and the goosebumps in the crowd could be seen.

At the end of the first day, Sachin was unbeaten on 38. These runs included both authority and delicacy. He soon reached his half-century with his trademark straight drive.He was on 74 when he edged Deonarine's ball to Sammy at slip. There was no celebration from Darren Sammy, as a mark of respect to the Master Blaster. The crowd was on its feet to applaud the innings and the man.

India were finally bowled out for 495. They led West Indies by 313 runs. The first thought that crossed the majority was the low probability of seeing Sachin bat again. It probably was the first time, that the average Indian cricket fan wanted the opposition to score as many runs as possible.

But, it wasn't to be. India won by an innings and 126 runs as Shami uprooted Gabriel's middle stump. It was over. It was hard to believe for ardent fans sitting in the stadium that Sachin Tendulkar would never play for India again.

Arguably, the greatest batsman of all time, he was given a heartfelt guard of honour by his team-mates.There were tears in his eyes and millions around the world joined him.

The master was finally handed the mic for his farewell speech. He thanked all the people who contributed to his life and career. The choke in his voice could be felt. Unlike his batting, he had to put in a lot of effort to finish his speech.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar finally exited the ground. While leaving the park, he also left behind 24 years of legacy. A legacy that still remains unparalleled.

#1 India's World Cup win, 2011

It had been 28 long years since India had last won the World Cup. They made it to the finals in 2003 but were defeated by Australia. This time it was Sri Lanka, who stood between India and the trophy. No team had won the World Cup on their home soil and if India had to win it, they had to recreate history along with it.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first in this big match. India started off well with the ball. Both of the Sri Lankan openers were back in the hut when the scorecard read 60. The run-rate too was well in check. Zaheer Khan looked in excellent rhythm.

Kumar Sangakkara was caught by MS Dhoni off Yuvraj Singh's bowling, although Mahela Jayawardene continued to battle, even as wickets kept falling at the other end. India seemed to have choked the flow of runs. It was a sudden counter-attack by Jayawardene, Nuwan Kulasekara and Thisara Perera that took them to 274-6. The momentum was with Sri Lanka at the half-way mark.

India had a forgettable start to their innings as they were 2 down for 31. Lasith Malinga had scalped the wickets of both Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar. The crowd was shocked and silenced. Tendulkar had a message for the young Virat Kohli, who walked in to bat.

Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir started re-building the innings. They added 83 valuable runs between them before Dilshan caught Kohli off his own bowling. At the fall of Kohli's wicket, the Indian skipper, MS Dhoni walked in. There were surprised faces in the stadium, as the captain himself had come ahead of an in-form Yuvraj Singh.

Gambhir and Dhoni then started building a partnership. The Indian innings gained momentum as the duo played some adventurous shots. Gambhir was bowled when he was three runs short of his century. Yet, he had done his job.

India required four more runs when the Indian skipper hit the very famous six off Nuwan Kulasekara. The entire country erupted in joy.

India winning it at home made this moment all that more special. The greatness of this achievement can be sensed in these lines by Sunil Gavaskar - "When I die, the last thing I want to see is the six that Dhoni hit in the 2011 World Cup final".