The Indian cricket team won the 2011 edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup which was co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The Indian team beat Sri Lanka in the summit clash at the Wankhede Stadium to win their first World Cup since 1983. Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar played an integral role in the team’s success.
Both batters opened the innings for the Indian team in that mega event and scored heaps of runs for the team. However, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar could not impress much in the final match of the competition. Playing against Sri Lanka in a pressure situation, Sehwag and Tendulkar departed to the dressing room cheaply, with Lasith Malinga picking up their wickets.
While Malinga trapped Sehwag in front of his stumps on the second ball of his innings, Tendulkar edged a delivery from him after scoring 18 runs off 14 balls. The legendary opening duo was excited to bat on the surface at the Wankhede Stadium while looking at the pitch during the first innings of the match.
Both of us looked at it, and then looked at each other: Virender Sehwag recalls his interaction with Sachin Tendulkar
In a chat with Cricbuzz, former Indian opener Virender Sehwag shared a hilarious anecdote while discussing the impact of pitch and conditions. Here’s what he said:
“I’ll tell you a story about the 2011 World Cup final. As the sun was setting, we noticed a lot of shine on the wicket. Both of us looked at it, then looked at each other and signaled that it will be fun to bat. Neither of us scored runs.”
Half-centuries from Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni helped the Indian cricket team chase a target of 277 runs and win the match by six wickets. Dhoni finished things off in style with a six off Nuwan Kulasekara’s bowling.
