Sachin Tendulkar with his son and daughter, after the win, on Saturday. (Getty Images)

Mumbai: Mahendra Singh Dhoni is happy to win the World Cup for Sachin Tendulkar. Speaking at the media conference, on Saturday, the India captain said that the planning and preparations helped in achieving success.

The following are excerpts

Team India wanting to win the Cup for Sachin Tendulkar

There’s no secret about it… It was there for everyone to see. Whatever secret plans we had, we’ll do it once back in the hotel. All of us are excited and we’ll enjoy this night.

His feelings after hitting the winning runs

Emotionally I was confused… Wanted to grab a wicket at first… Took one at the end I was batting because I knew Yuvraj would pick one at the non-striker’s end… By then Yuvraj had come to me and held me in an embrace. I think I was a bit confused at that moment and didn’t know what to do.

The Wankhede support

The support we enjoyed today was great. Whenever Gautam (Gambhir), Virat (Kohli) or myself hit runs, we were all applauded. We knew the spinners wouldn’t get much help because of the dew. It was a pressure game but we responded well. We shared the pressure and that helped…

The preparations

A little more than one-and-a-half years back, we had set our sights on the World Cup. It was then a long-term goal. We stressed on the need to prepare well. It was important to have all the players in good form and fit. We knew the format and wanted our best players to be in form. We rotated our players, gave them rest and that helped them to achieve 100 per cent fitness before the Cup. We peaked at the right time and carried that momentum into the final.

The team’s feelings

If you are part of the team, individual feelings don’t matter. We wanted to give happiness to our support staff too. They are a part of us in the dressing room. We wanted to do it for each other. We knew that if we won the whole of India would have a share of it.

The importance of the win for Indian sport

If you look at the last three or four years, we’ve done well in shooting, tennis and hockey. In football too we’ve won… Cricket is special in this country because of the infrastructure. We had a big change in our set up after we won the World Cup in 1983. Sachin and Anil Kumble made their debut a few years later… Then we had Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. We are trying to pass it on to the next generation. The expectations grow… There’s been lot of pressure right through the tournament. A few of the players haven’t been eating well because of the anxiety. We’ve felt it right through and have coped against it well. We’re happy to achieve it…

On the secret behind their improvement from the knockout stages

It’s a tough game… You need to show character and know each and every individual. The amount of cricket we play, it’s tough to give 100 per cent in each and every match. But in big tournaments like this, all players are tuned up for the challenge. We started loosely and realised that we couldn’t experiment much because of the knockout stages. All stepped up when the occasion demanded — Yuvraj, Raina, Kohli and Zaheer…

Promoting himself up the order in the final

It was difficult because Yuvi was in brilliant form. I knew if I promoted myself it would have meant two left-handers coming after me… It was an honest decision. If we could rotate the strike, it would be good. Having played with Murali a lot, I knew his doosra well and so wanted to put him under pressure… Gautam and myself, we also run very fast and that helped. We backed each other and knew that if we could get close to the target, Yuvi and Raina could finish the game off from there.

Yuvraj’s form

If you remember, I had said after the first match that we want Yuvi to get going, and once he does that, he will start contributing regularly. His bowling and fielding also improved and he was at his best as the tournament progressed.

The secret of his success as a captain

I am lucky…(laughs) I have very good players who have responded well. In Tests, we have seniors who have been around for long and contribute regularly. The youngsters are also contributing. Raina and Kohli have been covering a lot of ground on the field and putting in more than actually needed. I have also stressed in having a good dressing room atmosphere… You should always be ready to help others and that is important… Even if you are not helping, you shouldn’t have a demoralising effect on others.

On how he plans to celebrate

There’s not enough time. I’ll be off to Delhi at a friend’s place. After that there will be the IPL… It’s quite tough. Right now we plan to enjoy the moment.

Which victory he savours more, the T20 or the ODI triumph

You don’t compare. These are different formats. I’ve always loved the one-dayers because of variety. This team started doing something different when we won the T20 World Cup… We need quite a few reserve players to come in… A pool of players is essential considering the amount of cricket we play. We don’t need to think about the result always.