‘Because of him, we won World Cup’: Suresh Raina credits one player for India’s 2011 title win
The 2011 World Cup victory for India at home remains a special one - since it was after a span of 28 years that India had lifted the prestigious trophy. The tournament was also supposed to be the final World Cup tournament for India’s legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar - and the fans wanted the batsman to end his career with a World Cup victory under his belt.
Hence, after MS Dhoni hammered that six off Nuwan Kulasekara to win the final at Wankhede, the Indian cricket team took a lap of the stadium with Sachin on their shoulders.
Speaking in an interview to Khaleej Times, India batsman Suresh Raina, who was part of the 2011 World Cup-winning team, says that Tendulkar’s calmness was the reason behind India winning the trophy.
“With Sachin, it’s always about his calmness. It was because of Sachin that we won the World Cup,” Raina said.
“He was the guy who made everyone in the team believe that we can do that, He was like the second coach in the team,” he added.
Tendulkar finished as the 2nd-highest run scorer in the tournament with 482 runs in 9 games at an average of 53.55 and a striek rate of 91.98. India’s Yuvraj Singh, who contributed with both bat and ball throughout India’s campaign, and also proved to be a match-winner for the team in more than one occasion, was named as man of the tournament.