"I had a Point to Prove....," MS Dhoni after the 2011 World Cup Final

image-lfz9orbgIndian team after winning 2011 World Cup (Source:Twitter)

The 2nd of April, 2011 would be forever remembered as one of the greatest moments in the history of Indian cricket. It was the day when MS Dhoni and his boys managed to lift the 50-over World Cup trophy after a gap of 28 years in front of their passionate home crowd, something that was never done before in the history of World Cup cricket.

The stadium was jam-packed and a country of 125 billion people was glued to their TV sets expecting their team to bring home that World Cup trophy - The biggest honour in World cricket. The burden of expectations had got to the home teams before as said earlier but the Indian team under MS Dhoni was a different beast altogether.

However, MS Dhoni himself was not at his best throughout that World Cup ,until, of course the final, the biggest game and the game that needed someone to show the nerves of steel in a high-pressure environment. So, MS Dhoni decided to take the matter into his hands and promoted himself at number 5 over Yuvraj Singh, who was in the form of his life raising quite a few eyebrows.

However, what happened after that would forever be incorporated in Indian cricket folklore. MS Dhoni batted with great blend of aggression and caution with his usual cool swag and guided a tricky run-chase of 275 runs and eventually finishing things off in style - A MEMORABLE SIX OVER LONG ON!

After that memorable-historic knock, MS Dhoni delivered some strong words at the post-match presentation. The legendary captain said he took quite a few big decisions in the final and if the result would not have gone their way, a lot of questions would have asked and that motivated him to do well. He also admitted that Pressure got the better of him in that World Cup before the final and said that he wanted to bat up the order in the final and Gary Kirsten and other seniors backed him.

"I took a quite few decisions tonight, if we hadn't won I would have been asked quite a few questions: Why no Ashwin, Why Sreesanth. Why no Yuvraj, Why did I bat ahead?! That pushed me and motivated to do well.The pressure had got to me in the previous games. In this game, I wanted to bat up the order and Gary backed me and by the senior players,"

The emotional MS Dhoni also went onto say that he had a point to prove to himself and credited Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir for the way they batted. He also mentioned that dew helped them take on spinners and he would have loved to see Gautam Gambhir get a big hundred.

"I had a point to prove to myself. Virat and Gautam batted brilliantly; lots of singles. Then with the help of bit of dew , we put pressure on the spinners. I would have liked Gautam to go on and get that big hundred."

It was overall, quite an emotional day for all Indians and we saw, most of the players breaking down in tears including the great, Sachin Tendulkar. Yuvraj Singh was the Player of the Tournament and India won the final by six wickets as they chased down the target of 275 on the back of Dhoni's 91* off 79 balls and Gambhir's brilliant 97. 

Mahela Jayawardene scored a superb century in the first innings too but it was not enough for the Lankans on the day. Since that day, the whole India has been waiting for their team to lift the World Cup trophy again and with World Cup back in India in 2023, that dream may well come true after 12 long years.