Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India]: Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar revealed his quick chat with Virat Kohli during India’s tight chase in the 2011 World Cup final against Sri Lanka as he answered questions from fans on his Twitter handle on Friday.
In terms of the batting unit, Indian cricket undoubtedly has experienced the smoothest transition from Sachin Tendulkar to Virat Kohli. If Tendulkar was the mainstay of the Indian batting unit and the greatest in the world for two decades, Kohli topped the batting charts in the decade since.
India were stunned as early as the opening over of the chase when Lasith Malinga LBW Virender Sehwag. In the seventh over, Malinga returned to strike, this time taking the crucial wicket of Sachin Tendulkar for 18. As Tendulkar walked back to the dressing room in disappointment, the entire Wankhede Stadium fell silent.
Kohli stepped out to bat while Tendulkar headed back to the dressing room. Tendulkar came to a halt as Kohli crossed him and was seen giving him a pep talk in a moment that will go down in history.
Tendulkar finally broke his silence on what he told Kohli during a #AskSachin session on Twitter with fans on Friday.
“What did you tell Virat at this moment?,” a fan asked Sachin while posting the image of the incident. “Ab bhi ball thoda swing ho raha hai! (The ball is still swinging a little.)
India defeated Sri Lanka in the final by six wickets in the summit clash at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. After batting first, Sri Lanka posted 274/6 in their 50 overs. An unbeaten century from Mahela Jayawardene (103*) and knocks from skipper Kumar Sangakkara (48), Nuwan Kulasekara (32) and Thisara Perera (22*) powered Lanka to a competitive total. Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan took two wickets each and Harbhajan Singh took one wicket.
Chasing 275, India lost Sehwag (0) and Tendulkar (18) early. But an 83-run stand between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli (35) revived India’s chances. Gambhir went on to score 97 in 122 balls and had a 109-run stand for the fourth wicket with skipper MS Dhoni, who ended at an unbeaten 91* off 79 balls. Dhoni and Yuvraj (21*) had an unbeaten 54-run stand for the fifth wicket that guided Team India to their first World Cup title in 28 years.
