The 2nd of April 2011 was probably the greatest sporting day in the history of my life. It was the cricket world cup final (the tournament being held in India), along with a list of premier league matches.
The final was between India and Sri Lanka, both deservedly in the final. On the way, India beat the world champions Australia in the quarter finals, they then went on to beat arch-enemies Pakistan who I don't think should have even been allowed to enter the competition in the first place after 3 of their players were involved in a huge betting scam a few months ago. But it was brilliant when the captain of Pakistan had tears in his eyes when they lost. Brilliant. Even though the manager of the Pakistan team had said prior to the game "We have come here to play cricket. This is not a war field or anything". Who was he kidding?? It's amazing that people can settle scores through the spirit of competition, but this game was more than just a competition. Ask any Indian.
And then India beat Sri Lanka in an amazing final which could've swung both ways. The semi final and the final each had over billion people watching! There was no 100th century for Sachin Tendulkar. He only made 18 runs before he got caught out, I have never seen absolute silence in a stadium before like that. India were 0 runs for 1 wicket and then 31 for 2 wickets and were chasing a total of 270 and it looked a lost cause. At the same time Manchester United were down at half-time 2-0 to West Ham and that also looked a lost cause. Then in an amazing few hours, everything changed. United ended up winning 4-2 taking one more step closer to a record 19th league title and India won the world cup!
The scenes after the game were unbelievable. Some newspapers even said that "it was the biggest party on the planet". The captain of India, Mahendra Singh Dhoni put himself up in the batting order and scored 91 runs in an amazing innings, Yuvraj Singh got the man of the tournament for some amazing batting, bowling and fielding. The final was supposed to be all about Tendulkar in his home town, winning the world cup in front of his people. Although he didn't play too well, he was carried around the stadium in a lap of honour by his teammates with batsman Virat Kohli summing up the feelings of a billion Indians saying "He's carried the burden of the nation for 21 years so it's about time that we carried him on our shoulders"
What a fitting ending.
