India recaptured the crown which was first lifted by Kapil Dev team 28 years back at Lord’s in 1983 and 28 years later the team achieved the same under the Captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
At one stage it seems everything is lost when chasing the target of 275 for win, India lost their two big wickets with just 31 runs on the board in the 7th over. Virendra Sehwag was first to go without troubling the scorer and then Sachin Tendulkar who looked in good touch during his stay also nicked L.Malinga wide delivery to break the heart of billions of fan across the globe.
But two young guns of Indian team, Virat Kohli (35 runs off 49 balls) and Gautam Gambhir steadied the Indian ship which was bobbling at start. Both put on valuable 83 runs for third wicket before Kohli dismissed with the score reading 114/3 in the 22nd over.
Indian captain who has struggle for form in last 6 months promoted himself in the batting order and that was yet again a master stroke from Dhoni because he knew Sri Lanka has two off spinner bowling well so instead of sending Yuvraj Singh after Kohli dismissal he arrived at the crease with India still 161 runs behind form the target.
He played some remarkable and effortless stroke to keep the required run rate under check and keep the scorecard moving along with Gautam Gambhir. M.S.Dhoni hit 8 fours and two huge sixes during his knock. Both put on 109 runs for the 4th wicket before Gambhir fell three short of well deserve century in the 42nd over with India still needed 52 runs from 52 deliveries.
However Yuvraj Singh (21 runs off 24 balls) and Dhoni kept their cool to guide India over the line without any further hiccups. Dhoni hit the winning runs by swatting a huge six over the long-on boundary.
Earlier Kumar Sangakkara won the re-toss and elected to bat first. With the help fine century from Mahela Jayawardne (103 runs off 88 balls) and some late Sri Lankan assault they manage to put 274/6 in their 50 overs.
Sri Lanka able to take 63 runs in the batting powerplay and that’s made the difference in the score of 250 and 274. Zaheer Khan, who bowled three maidens and gave away just six runs in his first five overs, was plundered for 54 in his last five overs.
For India Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh picked up two wickets each, while Harbhajan Singh took one wicket.
M.S.Dhoni was declared Player of the Match for his brilliant unbeaten inning of 91 runs from just 79 balls.
Yuvraj Singh was declared Player of the Tournament for his all-round effort with bat and ball. He has taken 15 wickets in the tournament and scored 362 runs with an average of 90.50.
BCCI also awarded each of the 15 players Rupees 1 Crore and 50 lakhs to each supporting staff and 25 lakhs to each of the Indian selectors.
Delhi Cricket Board also announced the award with each of the three players Sehwag, Gambhir and Nehra will get rupees 1 Crore each while M.S.Dhoni will be awarded 2 Crore.
Match Summary (India Won by 6 Wickets)
Sri Lanka Inning– 274/6 in 50 Overs
M.Jayawardne- 103* K.Sangakkara–48
Yuvraj Singh– 10-0-49-2 Z.Khan- 10-3-60-2
India Inning– 277/4 in 48.2 Overs
G.Gambhir- 97 M.S.Dhoni – 91*