Team India won the last World Cup at home under the leadership of MS Dhoni. The Indian team beat Sri Lanka in the final at the Wankhede Stadium and won it by six wickets with a brilliant six over the mid-on by Dhoni.
It was a record chase in the final of the ODI World Cup, and India made history. But it was not easy as, chasing a big target of 275 in the pressure final, India lost to the highest run scorer Sachin Tendulkar, who got out for 18 runs, and Virender Sehwag got out for a duck.
But Gautam Gambhir held the innings together and took the game deep. Then MS Dhoni came out to bat at No. 5 and scored a brilliant unbeaten 91 off 79 balls. Gambhir also played a match-winning innings of 97 runs. In the end, Dhoni was adjudged Man of the Match for his brilliant innings.
However, former Indian opener Gambhir feels that there was someone else who should have gotten the MOTM award. Notably, over the years, there has been much debate about whether Gambhir should have gotten the Player of the Match award for his innings.
In a discussion with the Times of India, Gambhir said, “MS Dhoni got the MOTM award, but I feel Zaheer Khan was the real Man of the Match. Sri Lanka would have scored around 350 runs or more had Zaheer not bowled that spell. Nobody recalls his bowling, and we only talk about my innings and Dhoni’s six. Zaheer was man of the final for me.”
Team India hasn’t won the World Cup since then, despite playing in the semi-finals of the 2015 and 2019 editions. But this is one huge chance for them, and they have gotten off to a flying start. India has won all three games so far and is looking to be the team to beat in this competition.
