From Sachin Tendulkar to Virender Sehwag, India cricketers recall 2011 World Cup victory

When Mahendra Singh Dhoni sent the ball flying into the stands on a balmy evening six years ago, the Wankhede Stadium erupted. Outside the stadium, in houses and streets everywhere around the country too there was unadulterated jubilation. India had won the World Cup, which had eluded them for 28 years since that surprising triumph in 1983, orchestrated by Kapil Dev’s men.

#ThisDayThatYear - In 2011, “Dhoni finishes off in style. India lift the World Cup after 28 years” - in @RaviShastriOfc's immortal voice pic.twitter.com/Q61sLx10VA

— BCCI (@BCCI) April 2, 2017

What made the 2011 victory even sweeter was that India had swept aside arch-rivals Pakistan in the semi-final before their final win over Sri Lanka. In the final, the Lankans batted first and riding on Mahela Jayawardene (103 runs) and Kumar Sangakkara’s (48) heroics, put up a target of 275. The home team started poorly, losing the wickets of openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar early before Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir stabilised the innings to a degree. Kohli’s dismissal brought Dhoni into the middle and the duo added 109 runs for the fourth wicket. Just when it seemed India were sailing, Gambhir was dismissed for 97 leaving his team chasing 52 from 52 balls. However, Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni achieved that with ease, Dhoni scoring an unbeaten 91 while Yuvraj pitching in with 21 off 24 balls. On Sunday, on the sixth anniversary of that heady day, everyone from Tendulkar to Sehwag took to social media to reminisce about that night. Tendulkar called the final win a moment when “his dream came true”.

Like I always say, chase your dreams because dreams do come true, and this was one of those moments in my life when it happened. pic.twitter.com/oNWKsYr6sw

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) April 2, 2017

His opening partner, Sehwag, meanwhile called it the “the best memory for this generation”.

6 years ago #OnThisDay,Dhoni finished it off in style and we as a Team lived a dream & won the World Cup,the best memory for this generation pic.twitter.com/QQ9oVFEf4e

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) April 2, 2017

Here are the other most notable tweets:

It's been 6 years since we won the World Cup, the last moments of the game remain fresh in my memory.What a night that was👌

— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) April 2, 2017

6 years ago #Onthisday our team achieved a dream for billion of Indians by scripting World Cup victory. Unforgetable moment of our life. pic.twitter.com/rSxpWRN8kt

— Suresh Raina🇮🇳 (@ImRaina) April 2, 2017

What a night it was at the Wankhede . Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni led india to an unforgettable victory and we won the World Cup at home. pic.twitter.com/YpBu4HDVBC

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) April 2, 2017