Captain Cool Won It For India-2011 World Cup

The golden generation in Indian Cricket Ganguly, Tendulkar, Shewag, Darvid, Laxman, Kumble made cricket almost a religion for billions of Indians in India and all over the world .Anywhere in the world where they played cheering Indian fans continued to outnumber the locals. Tendulkar for his out of the world consistent world breaking performances became a man of worship for adoring fans. It was not looking good that such an Icon would not have the experience of being a part of world cup winning team. Dhoni brigade a mix of golden old and lively youth deservedly won the world cup 2011 beating another very strong Asian team Sri Lanka in the final at Mumbai.

The ICC prefers rotating World Cup venues between major cricket playing nations. They have been hosted by England (in 1975, 1979, and 1983), India and Pakistan (1987), Australia and New Zealand (1992), India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka (1996), England and the Netherlands (1999), South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya (2003), and the West Indies (2007). Australia/New Zealand were awarded the 2015 World Cup.

India, Sri Lanka and for the first time ever Bangladesh co-hosted the tenth version of ICC World Cup Cricket in 2011. ICC cancelled the provision of Pakistan to become the joint co-host after the unfortunate terrorist attack of Sri Lanka national team in Lahore .The head quarter of the organization was also shifted from Lahore to Mumbai .The venues for 14 matches including a semifinal originally programmed to be hosted by Bangladesh were also shifted. India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka very successfully organized the tournament. Fourteen national cricket teams took part, including ten full members and four associate members of the ICC. The opening ceremony was held on 17 February 2011 at Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, and the tournament was played between 19 February and 2 April. Two cohosts India and Bangladesh played the opening match at Sher-e Bangla National stadium and two co-hosts India and Sri Lanka played the final at Wankhede Stadium Mumbai.

India led by captain cool MS Dhoni became the first ever home team to win the tournament. Two teams from Asia appeared in the final as Sri Lanka became successive losing finalist. Australia for the first time twenty years failed to feature in the final of world cup cricket. The great Indian cricket legend Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar could have his long cherished Cricket dream finally come true. Yuvaraj Singh for his consistent magnificent performance was awarded the man of the tournament. Benefitted from IPL Indian players were in great form – leading batsmen were among runs, bowlers were getting wickets and fielding was looking smarter.Sri Lanka was also playing good consistent cricket.. It was only fitting that two of the better teams of the tournament met in the final.

Bangladesh as one of the cohost had a great opportunity to build on its reputation as a strong emerging ODI team after their memorable 2007 performance and great showing in 2011. Bangladesh shocked favorites India and strong South Africa in 2007 .Before the tournament Bangladesh white washed strong New Zealand in a bilateral ODI series. World cricket started considering Bangladesh as a team capable of beating any team on their day especially on the home condition. But apart from winning a close match against England and giving a reasonable good account against India in the opening match Bangladesh played the tournament very poorly. They batted miserably against West Indies and South Africa frustrating their adoring followers.

Teams:Ten ICC full members automatically qualified for the World Cup, including Zimbabwe who had given up their Test playing status until the standard of their team improves.The ICC also organized a qualifying tournament in South Africa for the Associateteams for participating in 2011 event. Ireland, Canada, Netherland and Kenya qualified.

Preliminary Round:

Flamboyant “Boom Boom”  Shahid Afridi led Pakistan team playing out standing cricket topped the group with Sri Lanka ,Australia and New Zealand advancing to knock out stage. Pakistan only lost to New Zealand in the pool match. Batting first Kiwis Scored 302 /7 in allotted overs with LRPL Taylor producing a magnificent unbeaten 132 . Steady Kiwi bowling of TG Southee 3/25, KD Mills2/31, SB Styris 2/17 restrict Pakistan to 192 All Out. Only all-rounder Razzak could score 62.

Sri Lanka looked impressive and well prepared for the tournament .Dilshan; Jayewardene and Sangrakara were in prolific batting form. So were their bowlers Muralitharan, Kulashekra and Perera. The match between Sri Lanka and Australia was abandon for rain interference. They lost a very keenly contested match against Pakistan.Batting first Pakistan scored a competitive 277/. Misbah Ul Huq 82* and Younis Khan 72 were the main contributor .Lankans made a match of it responding with 266/9 losing by 11 runs. LPC Silva (57), KC Sangakkara (49),TM Dilshan (41) all made start but failed to get going .Shahid Afridi ( 4/34)  with his fast leg spinners squeezed them out .

 

Strong South Africa topped the group winning all but one of their pool matches. They lost the match against England played atMA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai. On a slow turning wicket protean bowlers did well to restrict England to a manageable score of 171. Imran Tahir picked 4/ 38 and RJ Pieterson 3/ 22. South Africa in response was bundled out for 165 losing by 6 runs .SCJ Broad destroyed them with 4/15.

The match between England India played at M Chinnaswamy Stadium,Bangalore witnessed a fascinating tied match.

India 338 All Out (SR Tendulkar 120, Yuvaraj Singh 58, V Shewag 35, and TT Bresnan 5/45) tied With England 338 /8 in 50 Overs (AJ Straus 158, IR Bell 69, Z Khan 3/64, MM Patel 2/70, and PP Chawla 2/71)

Bangladesh playing in their home soil was expected to at least move into knock out stage. They managed to beat England, Ireland and Netherlands .But they suffered humiliating defeats against West Indies and South Africa getting all out for 58 and 78 runs. These miserably awful batting caused their exit from group stage for poorer run rate although they had equal points as of West Indies.

Knock Out Stage:

Pakistan 113 /0(Mohammad Hafiz 61*, Kamran Akmal 47*)beat West Indies 112 All Out ( S Chanderpaul 44, Sahid Afridi 4/30, Mohammad Hafiz 2/16, Saeed Aajmal 2/ 18) by 10 Wickets at Dhaka on 23 March 2011

India 261/5(Yuvaraj Singh 5G Gambhir 50 7, SR Tendulkar 53, beat Australia 260/6 (RT Ponting BJ Haddin 53) 104, by 5 wickets at Ahmedabad on 24 March 2011

New Zealand 221/8( JD Ryder 83 , LRPL Taylor 43 , M Morkel 3/46) beat South Africa 172 All Out ( JH Kallis 47, F du Plessis 36, AB de Villiers 35 , JDP Oram 4/39, NL McCullam 3/24) by 49 runs at Dhaka on 25 March 2011

Sri Lanka 231/0(T Dilshan 108*, WU Tharanga 102*) beat England 229/6( IJl Trott 86, EJG Morgan 50) by 10 wickets at Colombo Sri Lanka on 26^th March.

Pakistan, India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka moved into semifinals

Semi Finals:

Semi Final 1: Sri Lanka220 /5 ( TM Dilshan 73, KC Sangakkara 554) beat   New Zealand 217 All Out ( SB Styris 57, MJ Guptill 39, BAW Mendis 3/35 , SL Malinga 3/55) by 5 Wickets on 29 March at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on

Semi Final 2. India 260 ( SR Tendulkar 85 , V Shewag 38 , S Raina 36* , Wahab Riaz 5/46) beat Pakistan 231 All Out ( Misbah Ul Huq 56,Mohammad Hafiz 43, A Nehra 2/ 33, Mm Patel 2/40, Harbhajan Singh 2/ 43, Yuvaraj Singh 2/57 and Zaheer Khan 2/58)  by 29 Runs on 30 March 2011 at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh

The high voltage Pakistan India semifinal generated lot of in the cricket world as two traditional rivals otherwise not very friendly could only rub shoulders on the cricket ground .In the keenly contested match India maintained its supremacy over its regional rival beating them by 29 runs .India never lost a match to Pakistan in World Cup ODI ever.

Final Played at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on 2 April 2011.

India 277/4 (G Gambhir 97, MS Dhoni 91*, V Kohli 35, S Malinga 2/42 ) beat Sri Lanka 274/6 ( DPMD Jayawardene 103, DPMDKC Sangrakkara 48 )  by 6 Wickets

Two of the finest teams the countries ever produced played a wonderful excited final when fortune fluctuated like pendulum till the just stage when cool like cucumber Indian MS Dhoni produced yet another masterful innings in World Cup final. His unbeaten 91 not out in 79 deliveries almost snatched the match from Sri Lankan grip. India won the trophy the second time after Kapil Dev’s daredevils upstaged favorite West Indies at Lords in 1983. Sri Lanka lost the second consecutive final. Dhoni won the match for India and won man of the match .Yuvaraj Singh of India was adjudged man of the tournament for his brilliant all round performance.

2011 ICC World Cup statistics

• Administrator – International Cricket Council
• Cricket format – One Day International
• Tournament formats – Round robin and Knockout
• Hosts – India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh
• Champions – India (2nd tille)
• Participants – 14 (from 104 entrants)
• Matches played – 49
• Man of the Series – Yuvraj Singh (India)
• Most runs – Tillakaratne Dilshan (500)
• Most wickets – Shahid Afridi (21) and Zaheer Khan (21)
• Man of the Final – M.S.Dhoni (India)