So it was to be India lifting the World Cup trophy on home soil in Mumbai, defeating Sri Lanka by six wickets. They had looked to be the best equipped side before the tournament commenced and, whilst their progress wasn’t always serene, they had had enough reserves of class and quality to deliver the trophy that their adoring public demanded.Adroitly led by skipper MS Dhoni, man of the match in the final, India sailed through the knock-out stages. Reliability exists in all departments – from the opening partnership of Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, to a middle order featuring Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kholi and Dhoni, to a bowling unit comprising Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh.
They had a tough route to glory, but to be the best you have to beat the best.
Player of the tournament – Yuvraj Singh. It pains us to say it, but Yuvraj was the best player on show with 362 runs at 90.50 and 15 wickets at 25.13. It pains us because of his arrogance. We would like to slap him. Repeatedly. But we can’t doubt his credentials as one of the finest ODI players in operation right now.Top run scorer – Tillakaratne Dilshan, 500 runs at 62.50 s/r 90.74
Top wicket taker – Shahid Afridi, 21 wickets at 12.85 & Zaheer Khan, 21 at 18.76Most catches – Mahela Jayawardene, 8 catches
