It’s April 2, 2011, and we’re at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai for the World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka. There is a sea of blue in the stands and thousands more outside the ground, screaming, cheering and belting out songs for the Men in Blue, who are 4 runs away from lifting their first World Cup title in 28 years. On strike for India is their captain MS Dhoni, who, four years ago, led the country to its maiden WT20 title, while for Sri Lanka, its Nuwan Kulasekara with the ball, who is hoping against hope to work a miracle and shatter a billion Indian hearts. The Indian players and staff in the dressing cannot bear looking at the pictures, for it’s too much for them to take, while the Lankans, too, are dreading what’s coming their way, albeit for a completely different reason. But before we dive into the climax, it’s important for us to recap how we got here in the first place. 

But why was this seen as India’s best chance to lift the trophy? Simple, they had built a formidable team that had the perfect blend of youth and experience - never was this the case in the past 28 years. In Sachin and Sehwag, the side had two connoisseurs of the game who had well and truly stamped their name in the history books, and they also had match-winners like Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir. Above all, the team was led by MS Dhoni who, by then, was already being talked up as the country’s greatest ever limited-overs captain. Dhoni had led the team to its maiden T20 World Cup title in 2007, so there was all the reason for the fans - and the players -  to pour their faith on the Jharkhand man, hoping for him to help the country end their World Cup drought. And with plenty of experience amongst the bowlers, too, all of who knew exactly how to exploit home conditions, India did look like a formidable outfit.

However, the task at hand was not an easy one for the Indians, for they were up against an equally, if not more, formidable side in the final. Like India, Sri Lanka had lost just a single game in their entire World Cup campaign en route to the final, and were a team who were at the absolute peak of their powers. They, too, had assembled a side that had an almost-perfect blend of youth and experience and, up until the final, were unstoppable and crushed every single team that crossed their path.   

And the Lankans, who had last won a World Cup 15 years ago in 1996, had every reason to believe that it was them who were the favourites. Not only did they head into this encounter knowing that their kryptonite Australia - who took the World Cup trophy away from them in each of the last two editions - were no longer in the competition, but they were also up against a side whose number they had. While Bangladesh did upset India in the 2007 World Cup, it was Sri Lanka who dealt the Rahul Dravid-led side the knockout blow, beating them by 69 runs to send India into one of the darkest phases in the country’s cricketing history. 

In fact, the whole squad made this a common theme heading into the tournament - ‘Win the World Cup for Sachin’. But it can be said that no one took those words as seriously as the Master Blaster himself. Sachin was the cornerstone of India’s remarkable run to the final and he backed up his tons in the group stages against England and South Africa with fifties in the knockouts against Australia and Pakistan. He entered the final as the country’s highest run-getter of the competition and, as it had been the case for 23 years before the final, the whole of India rested their hopes on one man to lead them to victory. 

And in the first two and a half hours in the final, everything went perfect for the home side - Zaheer Khan started off with a maiden, they sent both Dilshan and Sangakkara back to the hut early and their spinners applied a choke-hold on the Lankan batsmen. But a remarkable century from Mahela Jayawardene - and a few lusty blows from Kulasekara and Perrera - propelled Sri Lanka to a mammoth total of 274, and suddenly, there were nervous faces all around Wankhede - starting from the players to the staff to the crowd. 

But as chaos ensued from one end, one man withstood pressure and stood tall from the other - Gautam Gambhir. But this was no alien territory for Gambhir, who was India’s highest run-scorer in the 2007 World T20 Final against Pakistan, where he scored an impeccable 75 whilst the batsmen around him fell like a pack of cards. In fact, Gambhir was so overshadowed by Sachin and Yuvraj in the 2011 World Cup, that his performances had completely gone under the radar. The left-hander chipped in with valuable contributions against England, South Africa and Australia and had already, prior to the final, scored close to 300 runs in the competition. Gambhir milked the Lankan attack to restore sanity and while he was ably supported by the youngster Kohli for close to 20 overs, the latter fell at a crucial juncture of the game, with Muralitharan having just come into the attack. 

But as the smiling assassin was bracing himself and licking his lips at the thought of having eight potential overs at the left-hander Yuvraj Singh, skipper MS Dhoni dropped a bombshell. Dhoni, in order to deny Muralitharan the luxury of bowling at two left-handers, promoted himself up the order to No.5. This was a significant moment in the game - and subsequently a massive gamble - as Yuvraj, who had batted at No.5 all tournament, averaged close to 90, while Dhoni had managed to score only 150 runs in 7 innings prior to him walking out to the middle. 

So, here we go. It’s the skipper MS Dhoni on strike for India and bowling to him is Nuwan Kulasekara. The Men in Blue are one hit away from victory, and the boy from Jharkhand, who grew up dreaming of this very moment, can erase 28 years of agony, pain, distress and heartbreak with one swing of his willow. Dhoni, with one hit, has the chance to immortalize himself and stamp his reputation as the greatest Indian captain to have ever lived and he, incidentally, also has the chance to deliver the God of Cricket the one trophy that has evaded him for 23 years. The Indian skipper knows that with one hit,  he could become the first captain to lift the World Cup trophy on home soil and, by doing so, light up the lives of a billion Indians who currently have their eyes glued to the television, controlling the inevitable tears that is bound to roll down their cheeks, knowing that their dream is not-so-far away from becoming a reality. This is it.

Welcome to a moment in history.