With five overs remaining, the game – whilst tipped in India’s favour – could still have gone either way. Buoyed by the wicket of Gambhir, Sri Lanka knew that a couple of quick wickets could tilt the game in their favour.
Cricket World Cup 2011 Final, India Vs. Sri Lanka, India Are World Cup Winners
The final batting powerplay was always likely to benefit India of course, and so it proved. After a 46th over where only 3 runs were scored, Sri Lanka opted to hand the ball to Kulasekera as opposed to Muralitharan and India profited.
Eleven runs came from the over, a boundary each for both Dhoni and Yuvraj and India were on the brink; Malinga was the final throw of the dice but with just four runs needed Dhoni – without whose innings India would likely have struggled – launched a long, straight six to deservedly crown India as World Cup winners.
Match report to follow.
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