Gautam Gambhir Recalls 2011 World Cup Final Inning: Indian Cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir recently opened up about his brilliant inning of 97 in the final of the 2011 ODI World Cup, an inning that helped India win their first World Cup in 28 years. He also discussed what his performance that day taught him about chasing targets in cricket.
Gambhir is one of the best Indian openers of the 21st century. Having played and shone for India across all formats, he played a major role in the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 ODI World Cup wins. In the latter tournament, he was a solid No. 3 batter for the Men in Blue and played the aforementioned inning in the final against Sri Lanka.
While Gautam was India’s highest run scorer in that final, it was captain MS Dhoni who won the Player of the Match award for his unbeaten 91. Despite that, he takes incredible pride in the role he played in his team becoming world champions.
Check Out: Gautam Gambhir Recalls 2011 World Cup Final Inning
The 44-year-old is a serial winner. Not only has he won two World Cups with India, but he is also a two-time IPL-winning captain with the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012 and 2014.
Following his retirement from cricket, he became the mentor of the Lucknow Super Giants for two seasons, taking the team to the playoffs in both those years. In 2024, he left LSG to join his old franchise KKR as the mentor. Not only did he play a big role in revolutionising T20 cricket in the IPL, but he also took the franchise to their third title.
Following his first IPL win as a mentor, Gambhir was appointed as the head coach of Team India after they won the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Gautam Gambhir Recalls 2011 World Cup Final Inning
BCCI recently released a video of the head coach having a chat with the team’s superstar batter Virat Kohli. During the conversation, Gautam recalled his inning from the 2011 final, saying that on such occasions, a player cannot focus on his personal milestones if he is to win the match but focus on what the team requires.
“The only way you can plan a run chase is when you are not looking at your individual score; you are looking at what you need to achieve and where you need to reach. What is the target where you want to be? That is what I actually found in the 2011 World Cup final,” he said.
Gautam Gambhir was dismissed for 97 in that final. Just three runs away from his 100, he stepped out and looked to play Thisara Perera’s delivery towards the covers but was bowled instead. Speaking on his reasoning behind playing such a risky shot, Gautam explained,
“When people ask me about did I had to play that shot or why did I play that shot, the reason that I played that shot is that before that shot, I was only thinking about what we needed to chase.”
When Gambhir got out, India’s score was 223-4 in 41.2 overs while chasing 275, which meant that they still required 52 runs in as many deliveries. This put India in a tricky spot, as it left a settled MS Dhoni with an incoming Yuvraj Singh on the strike, who had been dismissed for a duck against Pakistan in the semi-final. Speaking on his regret about the dismissal, Gauti said,
“The moment you reach 97, you start thinking I’m just one shot away from getting my own milestone, and how am I going to celebrate, the first Indian to score a hundred in a World Cup final. And the disappointment was not missing out on a hundred; the disappointment was giving the opposition a breather.”
Gautam Gambhir has gotten off to a shaky start to his India coaching stint. While he coached the team to a 3-0 win in a T20I series against Sri Lanka, India lost the following ODI series 2-0. He will now coach the national team in Test cricket for the first time as India takes on Bangladesh in a two-match Test series.
Get the Latest Cricket Updates at IceCric.News. Also, Follow Our Social Media for Live Updates – Facebook & Instagram.
