“India created history at the Wankhede lifting the World Cup with a fine six wicket win over Sir Lanka in the final of the mega tournament”.
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India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team-mates had promised Sachin Tendulkar that they would get the World Cup for him and they kept their promise.
Post the fine win the players lifted the batting maestro in their arms and took a victory round of the stadium in Mumbai.
Chasing 275, India reached the target on the second ball of the 49th over with the skipper hitting the winning shot off Nuwan Kulasekara putting his ball past the boundary for a six. In the process he put an unbeaten 91 runs on board, signalling his come back to form.
On the other end was Yuvraj Singh - the man who helped India win many a matches in the tournament. No wonder he went home with the coveted 'Player of the tournament'
Earlier in the innings, Lasith Malinga claimed Virender Sehwag on the second ball trapping him leg-before.
Post the first wicket, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir got busy trying to revive the innings and they were doing it at a good rate scoring in boundaries.
But as all good things come to an end, their partnership too ended early and again the man in question was Malinga. Tendulkar went for a cut but ended up giving an edge to keeper Sangakkara with 32/2 on board. He scored 18.
Then Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli got on with a partnership scoring 83 runs for third wicket. But, just when their stand started to look dangerous Tillakaratne Dilshan got the vital breakthrough catching Kohli off his own bowling to send him back on 35 and India went down to 114/3.
Gautam Gambhir and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who sent himself up the order at number five, decided to carry on from where Kohli had left. The two batted on completing a 100-run partnership. They continued rotating the strike and milking the opposition bowlers.
Unfortunately for India, Gambhir missed his ton by three runs as Sri Lanka pacer Thissara Perera clean bowled him in the 42nd over. At the stage India were 223/4.
There were a few tense moments too with the India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni surviving a run out chance in the 42nd over. Television replays showed that he just about made it to the white popping line.
Indians took the Batting Powerplay in the 45th over and effectively utilised it with Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni chipping away at the target with urgency.
The two helped India home in the 49th over with 277/4 on board - a fine six wicket win. Skipper Dhoni walked away with the Man-of-the-Match award.
Sri Lanka innings:
Mahela Jayawardene scored a ton as Sri Lanka put 274/6 in 50 overs against India in the World Cup final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan started of cautiously as India seamers S Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan got busy trying to keep a good line after Sri Lanka won the toss.
Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan started of cautiously as India seamers S Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan got busy trying to keep a good line after Sri Lanka won the toss.
Soon Zaheer got the man he wanted claiming opener Upul Tharanga on the first ball of the seventh over. The ball took the edge of Tharanga's bat and Virender Sehwag took a fine catch in the first slip. Sri Lanka score at the stage 17/1.
In the 17th over Harbhajan Singh accounted for the other opener Tillakaratne Dilshan with his turner. It was a soft dismissal that took away the batsman's leg stump when he was trying to sweep the ball down the leg side. He fell for 33 and Lanka fell to 60/2.
Post that wicket, captain Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene started off slowly dealing in singles but gradually upped the tempo. The duo had put 62 runs for the third wicket, when Yuvraj Singh got the man India wanted. An edge of Sangakkara's bat was lapped up by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the stumps on 48 and Sri Lanka went down to 122/3 in the 28th over.
Yuvraj Singh could have got another wicket in the form of Thilan Samaraweera, but the replays showed that ball had not touched the batsman's gloves or the bat before landing in skipper Dhoni's gloves.
Soon Mahela Jayawardene and left-hand batsman Tilhan Samaraweera got on with a partnership. But as has been the case in this match whenever two batsmen got going Yuvraj got the breakthrough. Here too when the duo had put 57 runs for the fourth wicket Yuvraj Singh claimed Samaraweera on 21 with an LBW written against his name. Sri Lanka were 179/4 at the stage.
There was more to come as Zaheer Khan struck back and removed new man Chamara Kapugedera with a well disguised slower ball. Kapugedera ended up giving an easy catch to Suresh Raina at mid-wicket and Sri Lanka were reduced to 182/5.
Jayawardene went on to complete his century and he did it in good time using just 85 ball to reach there. In the 48th over off Zaheer Khan, he hit consecutive fours to reach the milestone. But Zaheer proved to be a little lucky on the last ball of his over with Nuwan Kulasekara getting run out on 248/6.
But, the drama was far from over as new man Thissara Perera plundered him in the last over helping the team put on 274/6. He hit two consecutive fours and then a massive six off the last ball nullified Zaheer Khan's efforts that had seen him bowl three maiden overs at the start of the innings.
In fact, Sri Lanka scored 54 runs in the last five overs - their highest total in Batting Powerplay in this World Cup.
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