India the World Champions 2011

The World Champions 2011 ***INDIA***

Before the start of the world cup india where the firm favourites and rightly so they have beaten all the earlier world champions to lift the most prestigious cup for the very second time.

Indians had to wait another 28 years to see this to happen. In 2003 they came very close but coudnt pass the final hurdle to lift the cup. It was a huge relief for a country which is frenetic about cricket. After the earlier hiccup they came back strongly to show the world what champions are all about.

Road to the final:

Initial group matches:

First they have beaten bangladesh quite convincgly and then tied their match against england in a thriller. Then won not so convincingly against ireland and lost their only match against south africa. won a crucial match against west indies (two time world champions). booked their date against three time defending champions Australia.

Quarter final against australia:

India did well enough to restrict australia for a 250 odd runs. They had initial hiccups before yuvraj got them home with his allround performance. Raina gave a good support, without which tail whould have been exposed and india were at the edge of loosing the match. In the end with all the smiles india with the win where all set to play pakistan in an important encounter in a worldcup semifinal.

Semi final against Pakistan:

The mother of all battles "India Vs Pakistan" match. India had 100% record against pakistan in world cup matches. India batted first, with tendulkar getting so many lives for his 83 india pilled up a good target. Pakistan consistantly lost wickets at regular intervals and never looked threatening in pursuit of the chase. In the end india won quite convincingly and defeated another world champions on their way to final.

Final Against Srilanka:

India came to finals of the world cup for the third time. India dominated the first half of srilankas innings with wickets at regular innings but Jayawardenes century took srilanka to a respectable score. India lost two early wickets of sehwag and tendulkar and where in deep trouble. Then gambhir and kohli tried to repair the damage and as they were set kohli was out. Kohli's wicket got Dhoni to the crease and he came with a determination to win. He dominated the parnership and scored fluently and never let required rate get out of reach, once felt it was safe launched huge hits and took india home with the prestigious world cup 2011 edition.

It was a great victory and a moment to cherish and celebrate in indian cricket for a very long time. To all fellow indians "Congratulations".......... :)