Sachin Tendulkar reminisces India's 2011 WC triumph, says 'best cricketing day of life'

Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar has termed the winning of the 2011 World Cup as the 'best cricketing day of his life' as his biggest dream came true on April 2, 2011, at his own backyard i.e. the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets to win the tenth edition of the quadrennial event.

'It was just unbelievable': Sachin Tendulkar

“When I saw Kapil Dev lifting the World Cup in 1983, it was an unbelievable experience, I enjoyed it with my friends and I wanted to chase my dream. I decided what may come, I have to focus and chase my dream of lifting the World Cup. In Mumbai at Wankhede, it was just unbelievable, it was the best cricketing day of life. How many times you have the country celebrate, many few things are there which the entire country celebrates,” said Tendulkar during Unacademy’s session aiming at Lessons in Resilience, Passion, Preparation, Innovation and more.

“The victory lap had one incident when Virat and Yusuf Pathan lifted me, I told them to ensure that I do not fall down. It was not just the Indian team that won the World Cup, it was the entire nation, it is all of us who did it,” he added.

Team India rewrite history by lifting the 2011 World Cup

Sri Lanka who were playing in their second straight World Cup final had posted a stiff total of 274/6 in their 50 overs. In reply, India got off to a horrendous start after big-hitter Virender Sehwag was dismissed for a second-ball duck by Lasith Malinga. The Men In Blue were in a spot of bother after Sachin Tendulkar's dismissal as the scorecard read 31/2. Gambhir then took the charge of scoring runs and was ably supported by a young Virat Kohli (35) as the duo added 83 runs for the third wicket stand.

After Kohli's dismissal, in a rather surprising move, MS Dhoni came out at number four ahead of an in-form Yuvraj Singh. The two were then involved in a 109-run fourth-wicket stand. Gautam Gambhir was castled by Thisara Perera for a 122-ball 97. However, it did not matter as the match was in India's grasp by then and MS Dhoni finished it off in style by dispatching Nuwan Kulasekara into the stands as India won their second World Cup after a long wait of 28 years. The Men In Blue also became the first nation to win the coveted trophy on home soil.

Tendulkar had an outstanding tournament and was the second-highest run-scorer with 482 runs in nine matches at an average of 53.55 and a strike rate of 91.98 including two centuries and half-centuries each. 

By the virtue of this outstanding win, India also became the first & only team to win the World Cup in three different formats- 60-overs (1983), 20-overs (2007), and, 50-overs (2011) respectively. 

(With ANI Inputs)