Sports
Ten years on from the inspired gamble that won the World Cup for India
A decade on from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, relive the showpiece final of the incredible tournament.
MS Dhoni steered India to World Cup glory with a majestic innings, smashing the winning runs with a huge six over long-on.
The winning moment was a fitting finale for a spectacular roller-coaster of a match between the tournament joint-hosts, with a packed crowd in Mumbai put through the emotional ringer before the celebrations could truly get underway.
The First Innings: Sri Lanka recover to 274/6
Zaheer Khan’s remarkable opening five overs put Sri Lanka in trouble early on, with the Indian seamer going for just six runs in the spell and taking the scalp of opener Upul Tharanga – who fell for two runs off a painful 20 deliveries.
Tillakaratne Dilshan (33) and Kumar Sangakkara (48) got the innings going, but their dismissals put huge pressure on Mahela Jayawardene to deliver a potentially match-winning score from No. 4. But deliver is exactly what he did, finishing with an unbeaten 103* and putting on 63 from the last five overs alongside the power-hitting Thisara Perera (22*).
Khan was on the receiving end of much of the late damage, coming back from his impressive opening five overs to concede an eye-watering 54 off his remaining five to spoil what could have been special figures.
The Second Innings: Gambhir and Dhoni shine in India’s reply
Some supporters even left the ground as a brilliant opening spell from Lasith Malinga had India reeling at 31/2. The Sri Lankan strike bowler removed Virender Sehwag (0) with just the second delivery of the chase, and the Wankhede Stadium was reduced to pin-dropping silence when he had hometown hero Sachin Tendulkar caught behind for just 18.
Gautam Gambhir dug in to rebuild the innings, and was joined by captain MS Dhoni at the crease when Virat Kohli fell to leave the score 114/3 with 28.2 overs remaining.
There was some surprise to see that Dhoni had taken the brave gamble to promote himself above the in-form Yuvraj Singh in the batting order. But the decision – based on Dhoni having a better chance to bat through Muttiah Muralitharan’s remaining overs – paid off, with the skipper and Gambhir putting on a partnership worth 109 runs to give India a real chance.
There was still plenty of work to do when Gambhir fell to Perera just three runs shy of his century, but Yuvraj played a steady 21* from 24 balls at one end while his captain let fly at the other to guide India to victory.
The fact India reached their target with ten deliveries remaining makes the final overs look comfortable in hindsight, but it was Dhoni who removed that pressure, with the wicketkeeper-batsman smoking 20 runs off his last seven balls to avoid facing a potentially tricky final over against Malinga.
How the Captains Reacted
Sangakkara: “I’m very proud of everyone, especially Mahela who rose to the occasion and put up a great hundred. Both Sri Lanka and India will be proud with the way they have played, but India deserved this title, the way they played in front of a great crowd. The only way to stop India is to get at least seven wickets. Gautam was outstanding and Dhoni stepped up and performed. Congrats India, you were the better side today.”
Dhoni: “I took a quite few decisions tonight, if we hadn’t won I would have been asked quite a few questions: Why no Ashwin? Why Sreesanth? Why no Yuvraj, why did I bat ahead?! That pushed me and motivated to do well. I had a point to prove to myself. Virat and Gautam batted brilliantly; lots of singles. Then with the help of bit of dew we put pressure on the spinners. I would have liked Gautam to go on and get that big hundred.”
Tendulkar’s Crowning Glory
India’s greatest ever batsman was carried around his home stadium on the shoulders of his team-mates after winning the World Cup in his own city – a special moment for a special player.
A score of just 18 runs in the final wasn’t what the crowd at the Wankhede Stadium had been hoping for. But Tendulkar had already produced a tournament-defining performance to get the team to the final, picking up the Player of the Match award against Pakistan, and his teammate Kohli summed up the overriding sentiment when he said:
“Tendulkar has carried the burden of the nation for 21 years. It is time we carried him on our shoulders.” (ICC)
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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