Gambhir, Kohli, Dhoni and Yuvraj had good partnerships: Thisara Perera recalls where Sri Lanka lost 2011 final | Cricket News
Sri Lanka did manage to pick up Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar within the first 10 overs in the 2011 World Cup final. India where chasing 275 runs in the final and did seem like India was up against it at the Wankhede. Lasith Malinga who picked up both the wickets with the new ball was in the middle of a fiery spell when Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir got together to put off the fire. Then came the match-winning partnership between Gambhir and skipper MS Dhoni.
I feel that we missed a few catches. It’s always said that ‘catches win matches.’ We missed that. So, that’s the story of the final. Gambhir, Kohli, Dhoni and Yuvraj had good partnerships. That’s why we lost the final. We took two huge wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Sehwag early. When we took the two wickets, we thought we are on the track but it did not happen,” Thisara Perera who played in the final recalls speaking to Sportskeeda.
Once Gambhir fell on 97, Dhoni would stitch another invaluable partnership with Yuvraj Singh to take India over the line to help India lift the 50-over World Cup after 28 years.
However, though Sri Lanka failed to win the trophy after almost doing everything right in 2011 would have their redemption arc in 2014 when Thisara Perera himself hit the winning runs to help Sri Lanka win the 2014 T20 World Cup.
“All cricketers dream of playing in a World Cup, especially the World Cup Final. I had so many dreams. This is my best feeling when I hit the sixes in 2011 and 2014. It’s really good now looking back. It was really a dream come true,” Perera said.
Despite Virat Kohli’s belligerent 77, Yuvraj Singh’s excruciatingly slow innings of 11 off 21 balls left India with a very modest score 130 for four in 20 overs in the final in Dhaka. Kohli’s brilliance went down the drain due to Yuvraj’s struggle.