2nd April 2011 : 15 years of that magical night in Mumbai.

23rd March 2007 . A dejected Indian team sat with forlorn faces in the dressing room in Barbados. They have been beaten by Sri Lanka, and a few days ago, Bangladesh gave them a shocker in their tournament opener and even though they won by a big margin against Bermuda, a loss against the Lankan lions meant that the doors were closed for them in the world cup of 2007. 

Then the T20 world cup win followed later that year, which somewhat healed the wounds and sent the nation into a frenzy.  A new long haired captain named MS Dhoni was announced and in the absence of the veterans like Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid, he was given a free hand to lead the side. And the results started to show. A win in the CB series in 2008 down under was a part of history. So was the win in New Zealand in 2009, after 50 years. 

But the disappointment of the Caribbean was still lurking. And after successive defeats in the 2009 and 2010 T20 world cups, a home world cup arrived in 2011. Sachin Tendulkar was playing his last world cup. And to sign off with the trophy was bound to be a special story. 

India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were co-hosting the world cup and the tournament started in thumping fashion as Virender Sehwag thumped Rubel Hossain for a boundary of the first ball of the tournament. Post that, Sehwag did not stop as he butchered the Bangladesh attack on his way to a gargantuan 175. Virat Kohli, playing his first world cup scored a blistering 100 too as India piled a massive 371 runs. 

In the chase, Bangladesh tried their best, but could not keep up with the cunningness of Munaf Patel and Zaheer Khan’s lengths as they were restricted to 283 despite 50’s from Tamim and Shakib. India had their revenge in style. 

The next game against England was arguably the best game of the world cup. On the back of Tendulkar’s 98th international century, India scored a massive 338 runs on the board as Tim Bresnan took 5 wickets. In response Andrew Strauss led the way with a magnificent 158 and  England were on the verge of a famous win until Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel pulled things back with their terrific bowling. 

Graham Swann and Ahmed Shezhad then almost pulled off a miraculously thrilling win but Munaf Patel held his nerve and the match ended in a thrilling tie, only the third tie in world cup history. 

A shocker of a loss against South Africa at Kanpur negated the wins over Ireland and the Netherlands, but India then pipped the West Indies to set up a quarter final date with Australia. 

In a high octane quarter final, Australia got 260 on the board courtesy yet another Ricky Pointing ton, but it was a par score considering how strong the Indian batting was. And India were reduced to 187/5 but Yuvraj Singh stood between Australia and another world cup semi final as he and Suresh Raina sent Australia packing. 

The semi final then was another huge game as the political leaders of both India and Pakistan attended it. India put up 260 runs on the board as Sachin Tendulkar scored another important knock of 85 runs. 

Pakistan were never in the run chase as Zaheer khan, Munaf patel, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh struck at regular intervals to derail the chase and even Misbah Ul Haq’s valiant effort couldn’t save Pakistan from a defeat.

After 8 long years, India were in the final of an ODI world cup and the Wankhede was JAM PACKED. Electing to bat first, Sri Lanka scored an above par 274 and in a World Cup final, that is a potential match winning score. Mahela Jaywardane scored one of the most sublime centuries in a final and India were up against it.

But then calamity struck. Lasith Malings removed both the openers and India were wobbling at 31/2. But then two Delhi boys stabilised the innings. Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli stabilised the innings and took India to 114/3 but Kohli was dismissed as Dilshan took a stunning catch. 

Yuvraj Singh had a fabulous world cup but he had to wait. MS Dhoni, who had an almost forgettable world cup made his way out first and then along with Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh, finished the game off with a six that will be etched in every Indians memory for a long long time as India became the first ever host nation to win a world cup.

The horrors of Joburg 2003 and the horrors of 2007 Barbados was wiped out that night as 100 crore Indians just celebrated to the T…. And 15 years later… It still is THE moment of the 21st century as far as Indian cricket is considered as the GOD of cricket was finally rewarded for his persistence of over 2 decades.