Dhoni finishes it: the 2011 World Cup final
Mahela Jayawardene's unbeaten century took Sri Lanka to 274 at a packed Wankhede Stadium. India lost Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag cheaply chasing it, then Gautam Gambhir and a rising MS Dhoni built the innings that ended 28 years without a home World Cup win.
A final on home soil
The 2011 World Cup final was played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on 2 April, the first time India had hosted a World Cup final since the tournament's early years, and the first time two Asian sides had met in a men's World Cup final. Sri Lanka, appearing in their third final, won the toss and chose to bat first in front of a crowd that had come to see India end a wait stretching back to 1983, the only previous year an Indian side had won the tournament.
Mahela Jayawardene led Sri Lanka that day, and MS Dhoni captained the hosts. Both sides had reached the final by beating the other major contenders through the knockout rounds, and the match was watched by one of the largest television audiences in the sport's history.
Jayawardene's century
Sri Lanka's innings did not begin fluently. Upul Tharanga struggled to 2 off 20 balls before he was caught off Zaheer Khan, who bowled with control throughout, finishing with 2 for 60 from his 10 overs, and Tillakaratne Dilshan went on to make 33 before he too was out, bowled by Harbhajan Singh. Kumar Sangakkara, batting at three, made 48 before he was caught behind by Dhoni off Yuvraj Singh, who took 2 for 49 in a canny spell of slower balls and part-time spin.
From 122 for 3, the innings was rebuilt entirely by Mahela Jayawardene. He was still there at the end, unbeaten on 103 from 88 balls with 13 fours, having added 57 with Thilan Samaraweera and then found support from Nuwan Kulasekara, who made 32 before he was run out by Dhoni himself, and Thisara Perera, who struck an unbeaten 22 from 9 balls at the death. Sri Lanka finished on 274 for 6 from their 50 overs, a total built almost entirely by one innings after early setbacks.
Early blows
India's chase could hardly have started worse. Virender Sehwag was out lbw for a duck in the first over, trapped by Lasith Malinga, and Sachin Tendulkar, playing what was widely known to be his last World Cup, fell for 18, caught by Sangakkara off Malinga, who finished with 2 for 42. At 31 for 2 inside the seventh over, with the Wankhede crowd suddenly silent, the huge chase looked to be slipping away exactly as it had for India in the finals of 2003.
Virat Kohli, still early in his career at this point, joined Gautam Gambhir and the pair steadied the innings. Kohli made 35 before he was caught and bowled by Tillakaratne Dilshan, but by then he and Gambhir had added 83 for the third wicket and rebuilt the platform India needed.
Gambhir builds the chase
Gautam Gambhir's innings became the backbone of the chase. He batted through the middle overs with the kind of patient, watchful cricket the situation demanded, working the spinners Suraj Randiv and Muttiah Muralitharan for ones and twos rather than taking risks against them, and he was still there when the score passed 200. He was eventually bowled for 97, the highest score of the innings for either side after Jayawardene, having faced 122 balls and struck 9 fours. His dismissal, with India on 223 for 4 and still 52 needed, left the finish to Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh.
Dhoni's promotion
One of the most discussed captaincy decisions of the tournament had already been made by this point: with Yuvraj Singh in prolific form throughout the World Cup, Dhoni chose to promote himself above Yuvraj in the batting order once Kohli was out, moving up to bat at number five ahead of a player who would go on to be named player of the tournament. It meant the captain, rather than his in-form middle-order batter, would face the pressure of finishing off a World Cup final chase in front of his own crowd.
Dhoni began watchfully, working ones and twos alongside Gambhir and then Yuvraj, before opening up as the target came down. He finished unbeaten on 91 from 79 balls, with 8 fours and 2 sixes, an innings that mixed caution in its first half with calculated aggression in its second, very much in the mould of the finishing innings that had already made his reputation.
The six that won it
Yuvraj Singh stayed with his captain to the end, unbeaten on 21 from 24 balls, and the pair added 54 together unbroken for the fifth wicket. With the scores closing in and the crowd roaring on every single, Dhoni went after Nuwan Kulasekara and struck him over long-on for six to complete the chase, India reaching 277 for 4 with 10 balls to spare. The image of Dhoni's finishing six, bat raised, has become one of the most reproduced moments in the sport's modern history.
India won by 6 wickets. Dhoni was named man of the match for his unbeaten 91 and for the decision to bat himself up the order, a call that was vindicated by the finish it produced.
What the final meant
The win made India the first team to win a World Cup final played in its own country (Sri Lanka had won as co-hosts in 1996, but that final was played in Lahore, Pakistan), and ended a 28-year gap since the country's only previous title, in 1983. It was also Sachin Tendulkar's sixth and final World Cup, and his teammates famously carried him around the ground on their shoulders after the presentation, a gesture widely reported at the time as the squad's tribute to a career spent chasing the trophy.
The full scorecard for the final, innings by innings, is on this page, and both finalists can be followed further on the India and Sri Lanka team pages. In The Chase you can take either side into a World Cup final of your own and see whether you can finish it the way Dhoni did.
Sources
- CricArcade World Cup archive: the full scorecard, fall of wickets and bowling figures on this page
- ESPNcricinfo: ICC Cricket World Cup 2010/11 final, India v Sri Lanka, scorecard and report
- Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2012: the 2011 World Cup