Saturday, April 2, 2011

Dhoni lofts the World Cup !

Zaheer bowls three maiden overs and then removes Taranga - c Sehwag b Zaheer !

Sreeshant bowls fast at 145 kph but then Dilshan hit him for two fours and now SL are 22/1 off 7.4 overs !



There was some controversy regarding the toss and it was called twice.

This is a solid start by SL. 39/1 off 12 overs.

Sanga lofts Sreeshant for four and now SL are 44/1!

Dilshan sweeps Bajji and is clean bowled. SL 60/2!

Now Mahela has joined Sanga. Next will be Samaraweera and next Kapugedara. Then Thissara Pereira and then the tail !

Mahela and Sanga are playing well and SL's score crosses 100 runs. They are now 103/2.

Sanga slashes Yuvraj and is caught behind. SL 122/3 !

Now they have progressed to 154/3 off 33.5 overs.

Samaraweera sweeps Yuvraj and is ruled not out. Then India went for DRS and he is given out !

Dhoni brings in Zaheer and Kapugedra lobbs one onto Raina and SL are 184/5.

SL are now 205/5 off 44 overs ! Mahela is now 78 no off 75 balls !

Thissara Pereira hit the last ball of Zaheer for six and SL finish with 274/6, setting India 275 to win in the final ! Well batted, Sri Lanka !

Sehwag is out for the second ball, lbw to Malinga ! India 0/1 ! Now Sachin has hit a couple of fours and now India are 26/1!

Sachin slashes at one from Malinga and is caught behind. India 60/2. Young Kohli builds a partnership with Gambhir. Kohli tries to loft Dilshan and is caught and bowled.

Dhoni comes in at No 5 and now India are 183/3, needing 92 off 89 balls.

Gambhir tries to hit a four and is bowled by Pereira for 97. Dhoni came in at No 5 and played a match winning innings of 91 not out. Yuvraj was 21 not out.

4 runs were needed, when Dhoni lofted one into the stands. India became the World Champions !

This win put an end to the worries of one billion people. One billion were worried that Sachin may score a century and India may lose, they were worried their batting will collapse, and even when 50 runs were needed with six wickets in hand, they were worried !

India were reeling at 31/2, losing Sehwag and Sachin to Malinga. Then Kohli and Gambhir played superbly, before Kohli was caught and bowled. Then Dhoni promoted himself ahead of Yuvraj. The reason was both Yuvraj and Raina are southpaws and SL has two offspinners. The left right combination of Gambhir and Dhoni worked, as India clawed their way to 223, when Gambhir lost his patience and was bowled. Then Yuvraj came to partner Dhoni. Malinga was dangerous and both played him carefully. Dhoni hit two mighty sixes. One was a helicopter shot and the last shot into the stands was mighty ! India had won the World Cup !

All planets favourable for India created a great win ! Yesterday Moon moved from the adverse 8th to the favourable Ninth. No wonder such an auspicious event - winning the WC - took place when all the Nine Revolving Heavens were benign !

Dhoni was Adjudged Man of the Match, for his magnificent 91 not out. You should see the way he flicked the formidable Slinga Malinga for fours and lofted Kulasekhara into the stands.

Yuvraj was adjudged Man of the Tournament. Yuvraj took 15 wickets and scored 362 runs in the tournament and played a vital role in India's bumpy ride to the top !

It is said that the Pakis dropped the World Cup 4 times and SL once ( Gambhir was dropped by Kulasekhara. Anyway he did not turn to Kulasekhara and say " You have just dropped the WC, my son"). So Fortune has a lot to do with success and Fortune ( represented by Jupiter in the House of Fortune ) favoured India !

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