Experience at the Cricket World Cup Finals - 2011

Hey there! My name is Abhishek, I was born and brought up in Bahrain. I'm 18 today. I'm a passionate reader, i love traveling and playing sports. My first blog post is about my experience last year at ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP FINALS between INDIA and SRILANKA. Growing up a cricket fan, this one day when I saw my country, India lift the Cricket World Cup 2011 will definitely go down as one of the greatest cricketing memories of my life.

When Dhoni finished things off with a mighty six over long – off, India celebrated.His team mates rushed onto the field, Sachin laughing , Harbhajan crying emotions were running high all over! Thirty – three thousand people in the stadium barely knew what they were doing, while hundreds of millions across the country would remember exactly what they did before India hit that winning shot!  

           When the melee cleared , Dhoni was just standing calmly, his bat tucked under his arm, a stump in his hands. The Indian team, after 28 long years and after 6 hard fought world cups had bought world cup glory to the nation and had repeated the magic of KAPIL’S devils on home turf. This team proved that the power of togetherness and teamwork and sheer commitment and passion towards one’s profession can make mere individuals , world CHAMPIONS!!

I, for one,  was extremely lucky and highly privileged  to experience my county lift the world cup live at the Wankhede on the 2^nd of april. It was truly the happiest day of my life. T he atmosphere at the stadium was truly electrifying, 33,000 people had converged to one mega location to witness this mega event. SACHIN SACHIN! INDIA INDIA!!could be heard throughout the stadium! Every run was cheered, every wicket was lauded, and every four or six was followed by the screams of 33,000!!

There was so much at stake in this tournament, the world’s best played top quality cricket, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand had all showed their sheer class and temperament for the game!!But the two best teams India and Srilanka had made it to the finals. World cup victory, Sachin’s hundredth Ton, Murali’s last game, the hopes and prayers of two sub continental giants, the pressure was indeed mounting; nerves were almost at bursting point. History was going to be re-written 22 players, a billion dreams the night of 2^nd April was going to change the lives of many for good or for worse.

Sri Lanka won the toss and mounted runs thanks to a wonderful knock from thier batting maestro Mahela Jayawadene and some brilliant last minute slogging by the srilankan tail. They piled on 275 runs, this was indeed going to be difficult to chase for the home team under lights. No one had moved an inch, during the break and when India’s deadly opening pair came out to bat, the Wankhede went into crazy mode again. But soon the openers were sent back to the pavilion and India was reduced to  31 for 2. India needed Magic and they had to believe in themselves and their talent and that is exactly what Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir , India’two most prolific batsmen did, they put  up a hundred run partnership and when Gambhir finally got out things were comfortably placed for India with the Indian captain finishing it off with a huge six over long – off.

When that last shot was hit I could not control my emotions, I jumped , I roared, The stadium erupted with joy, and sang the songs  “VANDE MATARAM “AND “MAA TUJHE SALAAM” .This was when I realized  I had witnessed one of the greatest matches in Cricketing History.

But then I realized as, I looked around, I saw our Srilankan friends , our South African brothers, and people from various other countries, no one had moved an inch, they stood ,clapped and roared for the Indian victory. This was when I realized that today no individual or team had won but the game of CRICKET had prevailed. On 2^nd April , 2011 both the srilankan and Indian presidents sat together in the same box, flags from all over the world were seen in the stadium that day, Punjabis, Tamilians, Sinhalese, Pakistanis, South Africans, Australians  were all present that day but not one,  I repeat not one person had gone home unhappy, it was the language of cricket that bought the world together in the sub-continent that day and it was this language that made every person  sitting in that stadium that day believe that the world is one big Global family^_^ and “IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING”