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regular-article-logo Thursday, 25 April 2024

11 years to World Cup triumph: What it meant

Players look back, dwell on the sweet victory

Our Correspondent Calcutta Published 02.04.22, 04:21 PM
The triumphant Indian team after winning the World Cup

The triumphant Indian team after winning the World Cup Twitter: @harbhajan_singh

As Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's six off Nuwan Kulasekara's bowling landed on the stands of Wankhede stadium exactly 11 years ago, thousands of fans thronged the streets of the country, bursting crackers, jumping with joy.

The generation that dealt with the heartbreak of 2003 World Cup final when the Sourav Ganguly-led side came within touching distance of the trophy only to be denied by a world-class Australia team, was ecstatic. For most Indians, who were not there to experience the unlikely 1983 World Cup triumph, it felt like life had come full-circle.

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For Indian cricket, which plunged into a crisis after the disappointment of group-stage exit of the 2007 World Cup, the win became a home-coming moment and the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh ensured their immortality in the history books.

The victory tasted sweeter for the fans and the players as the whole team was determined to present the World Cup trophy to Sachin Tendulkar as a befitting farewell to the Master Blaster who was playing his last World Cup. After all, who can forget Sachin being carried all over the field by his teammates on their shoulders?

The BCCI, remembering the victory, posted a series of pictures of the famous victory on Twitter with the caption, "Etched in our memories forever." The members of the squad also took to social media to remember the special occasion.

Sachin posted a photo of himself beside two pictures of two World Cup wins from 1983 and 2011 with the caption, "๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™™๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ข ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ ๐™–๐™˜๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™ž๐™จ๐™๐™š๐™™! ๐Ÿ† ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ #worldcup2011."

Yuvraj Singh, who played the tournament with Leukomia, posted a series of pictures and wrote, "It wasnโ€™t just a world cup victory, it was the dream of a billion Indians being fulfilled Proud to be a part of this team that wanted to win the cup for the country & for @sachin_rt Nothing can match the pride of wearing the tricolour & bringing glory to the nation."

Harbhajan Singh tagged some of his teammates and wrote "๐Ÿ๐ง๐ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐€๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐ฅ - a day when billions jumped in joy! The day when India ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ lifted the ๐Ÿ† A night that I have lived over and over again!
@sachin_rt @GautamGambhir @virendersehwag @imVkohli @YUVSTRONG12 @msdhoni @ImRaina @iamyusufpathan @ImZaheer @munafpa99881129."

Suresh Raina wrote, "A tournament #WorldCup2011 that changed everything for Indian cricket, a moment when our dream got fulfilledโœจThis moment will forever be close to our heart โค๏ธ
#OnThisDay #CWC2011."

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