April 2, 2011: India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets and became World Champions. The last world cup that India won was on April 2, 1983 - 28 years ago.
The win was just unbelievable. After the first two wickets fell, everyone was disheartened. Somehow, the faith remained. Sachin (The God of Cricket) was the second one to be out, but we still had players like MS Dhoni, Yuvraj, Raina, and others.
Right after Sachin got out, I had to leave to go somewhere. I turned on the radio in my car to listen to the score updates. The radio jockey decided to play a prediction game of who will win and by how many runs/wickets. A guy named "Ali" called and predicted that India will lose by 100 runs. Another called and said India will lose by 177 runs. The score at that time was 75/2. I am not one to discriminate but I think those were disgruntled Pakistanis who wanted to see India lose.
As the game progressed, we saw a steady increase in Indian runs and the run rate. Gambhir played an outstanding game. I felt for him when he got out at 97 runs. I wish he had made his century. I agree with Dhoni that Gambhir was solely responsible for not reaching the mark. I think he was just impatient to reach that 100, and thought a four or a six will get him there quickly. At the same time, I think his out might have served as a boon for the Indian team. He was getting tired, and with new player (Yuvraj) on the field, the win just became more possible. The game had a perfect finish with Dhoni hitting that sixer. Dhoni is truly Mr. Cool. He did not even smile when he hit that six. He just turned around and calmly lifted one wicket and walked toward Yuvraj and then he smiled. India won by six wickets!
Who can forget Sachin? He is the
God of Cricket who waited very long to hold that Cup. The team followed through with their promise and he finally held the Cup. I want to share a link just to show why he is the best:
Sachin Tendulkar – The Master who was Born to Bat
Best quote in the article is, "There are two kinds of batsmen in the world. One, Sachin Tendulkar. Two, all other batsmen. - Andy Flower." He has proved why he is called the "God of Cricket" by his actions. I think people need to stop speculating when he will retire. He has played for 21 years and even today, we can count on him. Let him decide when he needs to stop.
The win was possible because of one guy:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He is Mr. Cool, who led India to victory. He scored 91 runs under the stress. He was awarded "Man of the Match," which he rightfully deserved. On April 3, 2011, he showed up with his new bald look. I must say he is looking handsome. I LOVE this new look:
He has gone through so many different looks. He started with long here. I remember when he did really well and Aaj Tak's headlines were "Dhoni ki zulfo neih dho daala..." Then he went with short hair. Now completely bald. Here is another look at his different looks:
Yuvraj Singh was awarded with "Man of the Tournament." I did not watch all the games to know the stats, but heard about his achievements. I think he also deserved that title. I know he did wonderful in India vs. Pakistan game.
I heard it was crazy in Houston. People danced and partied on streets of Hillcroft. Restaurants gave away free dosas. According to the news channel, Indians had a parade in New Jersey right after the game. Celebrations in USA were nothing compared to how people celebrated in India. These are times that I miss India so much. There were celebrations on the streets and online as well. Twitter was bombarded by the tweets with minute by minute updates and people's opinions. Indian Homemaker did an excellent
post noting the interesting and fun tweets. Check it out!
I am sure of one thing though. No matter where everyone was, they all had a big smile on their faces on Saturday and Sunday. We are still talking about it and we will continue talking about it even after we win the WORLD CUP 2015!
Source for images: Google search
