Cricket Fans never miss a chance to support their teams during the match. But what happens when the match itself is so iconic and memorable that it can include even non-fans. The 2011 World Cup between India and Sri Lanka was high-pressure and thrilling to watch. It is still regarded as one of the iconic matches in the world, and the credit goes to the Indian and Sri Lankan players.
Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat in the first innings
Result
India won by 6 wickets
Player of the Match
MS Dhoni( scoring a stunning 91 runs in 79 balls)
Player of the Series
Yuvraj Singh
Umpires
Simon Taufel, Aleem Dar
Match Referee
Jeff Crowe
3rd Umpire
Ian Gould
Capacity
33,000
Ends
Garware Pavilion End, Tata End
Hosts to
Mumbai, Mumbai Indians
2011 ICC World Cup: Iconic Cricket Match
The 2011 World Cup holds special memories among the cricket players and cricket fans. This World Cup was truly a sight to witness. It was the Tenth season of the Cricket World Cup and the popular countries: India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Canada, Ireland, Kenya and the Netherlands played it.
Three countries hosted it: India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. They segregated all the teams into two groups, Group A and Group B. The organizers chose Stumpy, a young elephant, as the official mascot of the ICC World Cup 2011. The 2011 World Cup had a grand opening ceremony at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka.
The popular rock star Bryan Adams gave an energetic performance to the audience and left everyone pumped up for the upcoming matches in the future. The top singer who leaves everyone speechless with his performance, Sonu Nigam, marked his presence. Bangladeshi singers Runa Laila, Sabina Yasmin and Mumtaz also created a musical ecstasy through their vocals.
The ICC Cricket World Cup match started on 19th February 2011 and ended with the final between India and Sri Lanka on 2nd April 2011.
2011 World Cup India Squad
Player
Role
Batting Style
Bowling Style
Virender Sehwag
Top-order Batter
Right-hand Bat
Off-break
Sachin Tendulkar
Top-order Batter
Right-hand Bat
Leg-break
Gautam Gambhir
Top-order Batter
Left-hand Bat
–
Virat Kohli
Top-order Batter
Right-hand Bat
Medium-pace
Yuvraj Singh
All-rounder
Left-hand Bat
Slow Left-arm
MS Dhoni (c & wk)
Wicketkeeper Batter
Right-hand Bat
–
Suresh Raina
Middle-order Batter
Left-hand Bat
Off-break
Harbhajan Singh
Off-spin Bowler
Right-hand Bat
Off-break
Zaheer Khan
Fast Bowler
Right-hand Bat
Left-arm Fast
Munaf Patel
Fast Bowler
Right-hand Bat
Right-arm Fast
S Sreesanth
Fast Bowler
Right-hand Bat
Right-arm Fast
2011 World Cup India Squad Age
Player
Age
Role
MS Dhoni (c & wk)
29
Wicketkeeper Batter
Virender Sehwag (vc)
32
Top-order Batter
Sachin Tendulkar
37
Top-order Batter
Gautam Gambhir
29
Top-order Batter
Yuvraj Singh
29
All-rounder
Virat Kohli
22
Top-order Batter
Suresh Raina
24
Middle-order Batter
Yusuf Pathan
28
All-rounder
Harbhajan Singh
30
Off-spin Bowler
Zaheer Khan
32
Fast Bowler
Ashish Nehra
31
Fast Bowler
Munaf Patel
27
Fast Bowler
Praveen Kumar
24
Fast-medium Bowler
Piyush Chawla
22
Leg-spin Bowler
Ravichandran Ashwin
24
Off-spin All-rounder
Sri Lanka Squad in 2011 World Cup
Player
Role
Batting Style
Bowling Style
Upul Tharanga
Top-order Batter
Left-hand Bat
–
Tillakaratne Dilshan
All-rounder
Right-hand Bat
Slow Left-arm
Kumar Sangakkara (c & wk)
Wicketkeeper Batter
Left-hand Bat
–
Mahela Jayawardene
Batter
Right-hand Bat
–
Thilan Samaraweera
Batter
Right-hand Bat
Off-break
Chamara Kapugedera
Batter
Right-hand Bat
–
Thisara Perera
Bowling All-rounder
Left-hand Bat
Right-arm Medium
Nuwan Kulasekara
Fast Bowler
Right-hand Bat
Right-arm Fast
Lasith Malinga
Fast Bowler
Right-hand Bat
Right-arm Fast
Suraj Randiv
Off-spin Bowler
Right-hand Bat
Off-break
Muttiah Muralitharan
Leg-spin Bowler
Right-hand Bat
Off-break
2011 World Cup Sri Lanka Age ICC
Player
Age
Kumar Sangakkara (capt)
33
Mahela Jayawardene
33
Tillakaratne Dilshan
34
Upul Tharanga
26
Thilan Samaraweera
34
Chamara Silva
31
Chamara Kapugedera
23
Angelo Mathews
23
Thisara Perera
21
Nuwan Kulasekara
28
Lasith Malinga
27
Dilhara Fernando
31
Muttiah Muralitharan
38
Ajantha Mendis
25
Rangana Herath
32
Final Scorecard
2011 World Cup Sri Lanka Scorecard: Sri Lanka’s Batting
Batter
Dismissal
R
B
4s
6s
SR
Upul Tharanga
c V Sehwag b Z Khan
2
20
0
0
10
Tillakaratne Dilshan
b H Singh
33
49
3
0
67.35
Kumar Sangakkara
c M Dhoni b Y Singh
48
67
5
0
71.64
Mahela Jayawardene
not out
103
88
13
0
117.05
Thilan Samaraweera
lbw b Y Singh
21
34
2
0
61.76
Chamara Kapugedera
c S Raina b Z Khan
1
5
0
0
20
Nuwan Kulasekara
run out (M Dhoni)
32
30
1
1
106.67
Thisara Perera
not out
22
9
3
1
244.44
Extras: 12 (b 1, lb 3, w 6, nb 2)
Total: 274-6 (50 Overs, RR: 5.48)
India’s Bowling
Bowler
O
M
R
W
NB
WD
ECO
Zaheer Khan
10
3
60
2
0
1
6
S Sreesanth
8
0
52
0
2
0
6.5
Munaf Patel
9
0
41
0
0
1
4.56
Harbhajan Singh
10
0
50
1
0
1
5
Yuvraj Singh
10
0
49
2
0
0
4.9
Sachin Tendulkar
2
0
12
0
0
3
6
Virat Kohli
1
0
6
0
0
0
6
Sri Lanka’s Fall Out of Wicket
Score
Over
Wicket Player
17-1
6.1
Tharanga
60-2
16.3
Dilshan
122-3
27.5
Sangakkara
179-4
38.1
T Samaraweera
182-5
39.5
Kapugedera
248-6
48
Kulasekara
2011 World Cup India’s Scorecard: India’s Batting
Batter
Dismissal
R
B
4s
6s
SR
Virender Sehwag
lbw b L Malinga
0
2
0
0
0
Sachin Tendulkar
c K Sangakkara b L Malinga
18
14
2
0
128.57
Gautam Gambhir
b T Perera
97
122
9
0
79.51
Virat Kohli
c & b T Dilshan
35
49
4
0
71.43
MS Dhoni (not out)
not out
91
79
8
2
115.19
Yuvraj Singh (not out)
not out
21
24
2
0
87.5
Extras: 15 (b 1, lb 6, w 8)
Total: 277-4 (48.2 Overs, RR: 5.73)
Sri Lanka’s Bowling
Bowler
O
M
R
W
NB
WD
ECO
Lasith Malinga
9
0
42
2
0
2
4.67
Nuwan Kulasekara
8.2
0
64
0
0
0
7.8
Thisara Perera
9
0
55
1
0
2
6.11
Suraj Randiv
9
0
43
0
0
0
4.78
Tillakaratne Dilshan
5
0
27
1
0
1
5.4
Muttiah Muralitharan
8
0
39
0
0
1
4.88
India’s Fall Out of Wickets
Score
Over
Wicket Player
0-1
0.2
Sehwag
31-2
6.1
Tendulkar
114-3
21.4
Kohli
223-4
41.2
Gambhir
2011 World Cup final commentary by Ravi Shastri
The 2011 World Cup Final was hosted at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai between India and Sri Lanka.Sangakkara won the toss and chose to bat first. Both teams were competitive in their performance. Sri Lanka, with its amazing batting by Jayawardene, who scored 103 runs in 88 balls, gave Sri Lanka an edge. But Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh took early wickets that stressed the Sri Lankan players to keep performing better. Dilshan scored 33 runs, Sangakkara scored 48 runs, and Tissera Kapugedera got out early in the innings. Pereira’s aggressive 22 runs in 9 balls helped Sri Lanka score 274 runs with 6 wickets.
In the second innings, India’s player Sehwag got out on the first ball, which caused Indian fans to be shocked. Sachin Tendulkar got out after scoring 18 runs, which made everyone panic. Gautam Gambhir handled the team’s dismal performance by scoring 97 runs. MS. Dhoni came in and took over Sri Lanka with his calming and outstanding performance. Dhoni scored 91 runs in 79 balls. The Sri Lankan bowler Nuwan Kulasekara was visibly struggling to bowl efficiently as all the yorkers were out of the boundary. Gautam and Dhoni’s partnership was a feast to the eyes. The cricket fans were stressed about who would win. Dhoni’s six over long-on cemented India’s World Cup victory. India won by 6 wickets, scoring 277 runs.
In an interview, when it was asked to Ravi Shastri “Dhoni finishes off in style. A magnificent strike into the crowd. India lift the World Cup after 28 years. The party starts in the dressing room and it’s the Indian Captain who has been absolutely magnificent in the night of the final”
2011 World Cup India Squad Outstanding Performance: Highlights
This match became India’s second Cricket World Cup Victory after 1983.
MS. Dhoni’s leadership and calmness under pressure were widely praised by the people.
This match helped India regain their status of being a strong cricket team in the world.
MS. Dhoni became man of the match, and Yuvraj Singh became the player of the series for his stunning performance.
Although Sri Lanka lost by a close margin, they gave a tough fight to India. The players were competitive and aggressive in their strategy and performance.
Mahela Jayawardene became the highlight in the match for scoring a marvellous 103 runs in just 88 balls.
Lasith Malinga was a key component in weakening India momentarily by taking Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket.
Kumar Sangakkara was praised for his strong captaincy and for leading the team strategically.
Conclusion
This match has sealed its name among the top high-pressure matches of all time. It was stressful, outstanding and finally eye-pleasing to witness. Sri Lanka aimed for a high score to chase for India because of their players. India initially was losing, but it quickly picked up the momentum and eventually won the match by 6 wickets. This match cemented India’s name among the top cricket countries globally. Both teams were competitive and gave their heart and soul to the performance. And both the team’s players are appreciated to date for giving a rare match to witness that was memorable for life.
