MUMBAI – India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted he took a World Cup final gamble on Saturday, a high-stakes strategy which paid dividends with a first world title since 1983. He included wayward seamer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth instead of steady spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and pushed himself up the batting order where he made an unbeaten 91.
He finished the game with a huge six as India celebrated their six-wicket win over Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium in style. “I took a quite few decisions tonight and if we hadn’t had won I would have been asked quite a few questions,” said Dhoni. “Why no Ashwin? Why Sreesanth? Why no Yuvraj (at five)? Why did I bat ahead? That pushed me and motivated to do well.”
Dhoni had admitted he had struggled for runs coming into the final. “The pressure had got to me in the previous games. In this match I wanted to bat up the order and (coach) Gary (Kirsten) backed me as did the senior players. I had a point to prove to myself.” Dhoni also praised Gautam Gambhir who fell just three runs short of a century and Virat Kohli (35) who put on 83 for the third wicket.
Gambhir also shared a crucial partnership of 109 with his captain after Lasith Malinga had removed openers Virender Sehwag (0) and Sachin Tendulkar (18) to leave the home side on a worrying 31-2 in pursuit of 274. “Virat and Gautam batted brillantly. There were lots of singles and then with the help of bit of dew, we put pressure on their spinners. I would have liked Gautam to go on and get that big hundred.”
Man of the tournament Yuvraj Singh said victory had capped a remarkable period for India, the commercial powerhouse of the world game. “This is unbelievable. We won the Under-19 World Cup, then the Twenty20 but this is the most special,” said Yuvraj, who was man of the match on four occasions.
“It’s for Sachin and for everyone else. Batting second means a lot of pressure but Gauti and MS played outstandingly. They played like it was a normal game. We batted like champions. Thank you India.” Tendulkar, who was winning his first World Cup in six attempts, said it had been the proudest moment of his career.
