MS Dhoni Talks About His ‘Best Feeling’ From the 2011 World Cup Final. It Isn’t a Match-Winning Six.

Dhoni revealed new stories from the day in a conversation with host Sanjana Ganesan and fellow guest and former Australia batter Mike Hussey, including the fact that the usually unflappable Captain Cool found himself getting emotional when India was on the verge of winning the chase.
The best feeling was 15-20 minutes (before the winning moment), Dhoni said, according to the ICC. We didn’t need many runs, the partnership was well-placed, there was a lot of dew, and the stadium started singing Vande Mataram, which I feel is very difficult to recreate – maybe in this [upcoming 2023] World Cup, there is a similar scenario, once the stadium, the fans start contributing.
You know, it’s a very difficult (atmosphere) to replicate, but it can only be replicated if the occasion is similar to that (in 2011) and there are around 40, 50, or 60,000 people singing.
To me, it was 15-20 minutes ago when emotionally I was very high, and at the same time, I wanted to get done with it. We knew we were going to win this from here, and it was very difficult for us to lose, so yes, you know, it was more of a sense of satisfaction, job done, let us move on from here, the former captain concluded.
That day in 2011 also belonged to India legend Sachin Tendulkar, who had been chasing a trophy for over two decades. It made India’s quest for their first World Cup title in 28 years that much more difficult.
It never gets bigger than that, Dhoni said. What I always firmly believe in is keeping your eyes on the target, as simple as possible.
Once you’ve achieved it, that’s when you can enjoy it to the fullest, and the moment you start thinking about why you want to win it, you start focusing more on the outcome, and that’s when you start putting undue pressure on yourself.
Dhoni admitted that there were times when he wondered if Tendulkar would win the elusive trophy. Yes, we all knew it was Paaji’s (Tendulkar’s) last World Cup, and throughout the tournament, we had the feeling that we wanted to do it for him, but at the same time, you have something going through your mind that says, God has given him everything, and God keeps one thing away from every individual. Is it that 50-over World Cup that God has decided that he will keep with himself?source: caresupp healthcareWe said we’d try our hardest, we’d give it our all in the cricket matches, and we’d accept the results, Dhoni said. In the end, we’re very happy to be on the winning side, but it took a lot from the entire team and the support staff.
In the final, India defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Sri Lanka scored 274/6 in 50 overs after batting first. Lanka reached a competitive total thanks to an unbeaten century from Mahela Jayawardene (103*) and knocks from skipper Kumar Sangakkara (48), Nuwan Kulasekara (32) and Thisara Perera (22*). Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan each took two wickets, while Harbhajan Singh took one.
India lost Sehwag (0) and Tendulkar (18) early in their chase for 275. However, an 83-run partnership between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli (35) boosted India’s chances. Gambhir went on to score 97 in 122 balls and shared a 109-run fourth-wicket stand with skipper MS Dhoni, who finished with an unbeaten 91* off 79 balls. Dhoni and Yuvraj (21*) put on an unbeaten 54-run fifth-wicket stand to lead Team India to their first World Cup title in 28 years.
Notably, for the first time, India will host the entire Cricket World Cup in 2023.