The World Cup Final
A tightly contested World Cup Final ended up in a 6 wicket victory for India, who ended their 28 year wait for the most prestigious prize in world cricket.
India will have their captain MS Dhoni and vastly underrated Gautam Gambhir to thank for the victory though, who both made brilliant totals in India's chase to get 275. The game started in a confusing manner, when match referee Jeff Crowe allowed a re-toss after nobody was sure on what Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara called, but won the toss second time around, and made no hesitation in batting first on a pitch that looked full of runs.
However, the innings started off terribly for Sri Lanka, with Zaheer Khan dominating proceedings. His 3 consecutive maidens put a lot of pressure on the opening batsman, and they eventually fell to that pressure when in his fourth over, he forced Upul Tharanga (2 off 20 balls) to edge the ball to slips, into the hands of Virender Sehwag. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sangakkara made a decent partnership of 43, but it ended in the 17th over when Dilshan's innings came to an end, albeit in poor unfortunate circumstances. His attempt to sweep Harbhajan Singh deflected onto his stumps.
Jayawardene was up next for Sri Lanka, and he needed to make a big score. He certainly impressed too, making a massive 103 off only 88 balls. Him and Sangakkara made 62 together, before Sangakkara edged a short ball from Yuvraj Singh behind. Sri Lanka, who were at 122-3 at this point, lost Thilan Samaraweera and Chamara Kapugedera in consecutive overs. The next batsman up, Nuwan Kulasekara, helped Jayawardene in upping the batting tempo. He entered the fray during the batting powerplay, but was run out in the 48th over, just a few balls after Jayawardene reached his half century. Perera ensured the innings finished with a bang, grabbing 22 off only 9 balls, with a six and three fours in the final over.
It was a bad start from India though, with Lasath Malinga bowling out Sehwag for a duck and later in his spell, he removed the dangerous Tendulker for a score of just 18.
The innings was stabilised though with the partnership of Gambhir and Kohli, who made 83 runs in just 15.3 overs. There was a scare for Gambhir earlier on in his innings, when he was dropped on 30 by Kulasekera, but he got lucky and strolled on to make an impressive 97. The third wicket came at 114, when Kohli was caught and bowled by part time spinner Dilshan. Yuvraj Singh was expected to come out next, but captain Dhoni decided to promote himself, and fully justified himself, with a score of 91 off just 79 balls.
52 runs were needed off 53 balls when Gambhir made a silly mistake against Perera to deny himself a century. However, there was never any worry from India, as Yuvraj was next to enter the frame. Him and Dhoni looked calm and controlled, and completed the chase with 10 balls to spare, thanks to the batting powerplay.
A tightly contested World Cup Final ended up in a 6 wicket victory for India, who ended their 28 year wait for the most prestigious prize in world cricket.
India will have their captain MS Dhoni and vastly underrated Gautam Gambhir to thank for the victory though, who both made brilliant totals in India's chase to get 275. The game started in a confusing manner, when match referee Jeff Crowe allowed a re-toss after nobody was sure on what Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara called, but won the toss second time around, and made no hesitation in batting first on a pitch that looked full of runs.
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| Yuvraj celebrates the winning runs from MS Dhoni |
Jayawardene was up next for Sri Lanka, and he needed to make a big score. He certainly impressed too, making a massive 103 off only 88 balls. Him and Sangakkara made 62 together, before Sangakkara edged a short ball from Yuvraj Singh behind. Sri Lanka, who were at 122-3 at this point, lost Thilan Samaraweera and Chamara Kapugedera in consecutive overs. The next batsman up, Nuwan Kulasekara, helped Jayawardene in upping the batting tempo. He entered the fray during the batting powerplay, but was run out in the 48th over, just a few balls after Jayawardene reached his half century. Perera ensured the innings finished with a bang, grabbing 22 off only 9 balls, with a six and three fours in the final over.
It was a bad start from India though, with Lasath Malinga bowling out Sehwag for a duck and later in his spell, he removed the dangerous Tendulker for a score of just 18.
The innings was stabilised though with the partnership of Gambhir and Kohli, who made 83 runs in just 15.3 overs. There was a scare for Gambhir earlier on in his innings, when he was dropped on 30 by Kulasekera, but he got lucky and strolled on to make an impressive 97. The third wicket came at 114, when Kohli was caught and bowled by part time spinner Dilshan. Yuvraj Singh was expected to come out next, but captain Dhoni decided to promote himself, and fully justified himself, with a score of 91 off just 79 balls.
52 runs were needed off 53 balls when Gambhir made a silly mistake against Perera to deny himself a century. However, there was never any worry from India, as Yuvraj was next to enter the frame. Him and Dhoni looked calm and controlled, and completed the chase with 10 balls to spare, thanks to the batting powerplay.
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