Three Unsung Heroes Of India's 2011 World Cup Triumph

On this day nine years ago, India won its second 50-over World Cup title by beating their sub-continent rivals Sri Lanka at the historic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The victory ended a 28-year wait as MS Dhoni became the second Indian captain after Kapil Dev, to lead India to the pinnacle of ODI cricket. Dhoni also received the Man of the Match award for playing a majestic knock of 91 that helped the hosts scale the chase of 275.

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The architects of the triumph were aplenty. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, and Zaheer Khan deserve credit for their stellar showing throughout the edition. But a few names, whose contributions at different stages were extremely crucial, went marginally missing. Those handfuls have earned the right as much as the players mentioned above to get recognition.

We take a look at three unsung heroes of India’s 2011 World Cup campaign:

Gautam Gambhir:

Gautam Gambhir’s kept chipping in with vital half-centuries in most of the games before playing the most significant knock of his career. The innings of 97 at the grandest stage of them of all came after the loss of two openers cheaply just after five overs. Gambhir shared a stand of 83 and 109 with Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni en route to guiding the men in blue to a successful chase.

But his 122-ball knock often gets overshadowed due to Dhoni’s timely rise to the occasion as the captain of the team. As a matter of fact, the southpaw’s frustration is justified to an extent since fans glorify the skipper’s knock and his winning six much more than Gambhir’s 97. With four fifties in his 393 runs in the competition, he was also India’s second-highest run-getter.

Virender Sehwag:

Sachin Tendulkar’s calmness at the top perfectly complimented Virender Sehwag’s attacking demeanour. Sehwag often got the men in blue off to flying starts that assisted them in putting mammoth totals while batting first. However, his failure in the final may have been the prime reason why Sehwag is counted among the unsung heroes.

The Delhi-batsman scored 380 runs at a strike rate of 122.58 with 175 against Bangladesh being his highest score in the tournament. On most occasions, Sehwag used to crunch the very first ball for four, setting the tone for the remaining part of the innings.

Munaf Patel:

Among the likes of Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel squeezed himself in to become Dhoni’s reliable lieutenant. The Gujarat-seamer didn’t necessarily make a blistering impact; however, he struck at vital junctures to keep India’s nose at the front.

Munaf’s consistency and his nagging line and length outsmarted some of the most set batsmen and the biggest hitters in the game. The 36-year-old featured in eight matches and picked up 11 wickets at a handy economy rate of 5.36 including best figures of 4/48 against Bangladesh.

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