2011 Cricket World Cup

Result

Player of the Match (Final)

MS Dhoni, India

Tournament format

14 teams in two groups of seven, round-robin, top four per group to the quarter-finals, then semi-finals and the final -- a deliberate simplification from 2007's sprawling structure. Co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, with Bangladesh hosting World Cup matches for the first time; Pakistan lost its original co-host status following the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore.

Full match archive

Every match of the 2011 tournament, not just the final — all 48 group-stage and semi-final matches, plus the final round-robin standings. See all 48 matches →

Final: match context

India won their second World Cup title in 2011, and their first in 28 years, beating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets at a raucous Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to become the first-ever host nation to win the tournament on its own soil -- a landmark that had eluded every previous host across nine editions. Sri Lanka batted first and posted 274 for 6, built around Mahela Jayawardene's outstanding unbeaten 103 off 88 balls, with captain Kumar Sangakkara contributing 48; Sri Lanka accelerated hard in the closing stages, adding 91 runs in their final 10 overs to push the total well beyond what had looked likely at the midpoint of the innings. India's chase began disastrously -- Virender Sehwag was out for a duck and Sachin Tendulkar for 18, both dismissed by the searing yorkers of Lasith Malinga, leaving India in early trouble against a total in excess of 270. Gautam Gambhir steadied the innings with 97 off 122 balls, adding 83 with a young Virat Kohli (35), before the match's defining tactical decision: captain MS Dhoni, batting down the order all tournament, promoted himself ahead of the in-form Yuvraj Singh -- a move debated fiercely in real time by commentators and analysts. It paid off completely. Dhoni and Gambhir added 109 together, an Indian World Cup final record partnership, and Dhoni finished unbeaten on 91 off 79 balls, sealing the match with an iconic six struck over long-on off Nuwan Kulasekara. India's successful chase of 277 for 4 in 48.2 overs was, at the time, the highest successful run-chase ever completed in a World Cup final. The emotional heart of the tournament was Sachin Tendulkar's farewell World Cup campaign, his sixth appearance at the tournament and long considered his best chance to finally win the title that had eluded him across a two-decade international career; after the winning runs were struck, his teammates famously carried him around the Wankhede outfield on their shoulders, one of the enduring images in Indian cricket history. Yuvraj Singh, despite being displaced from his usual batting position in the final itself, was named Player of the Tournament for his all-round contributions across the whole campaign. In 2020, a former Sri Lankan cabinet minister publicly alleged the final had been fixed, but a subsequent investigation found insufficient evidence to support the claim, which remains an unproven allegation rather than any confirmed finding against the result.

Sources

• Wikipedia: 2011 Cricket World Cup
• Wikipedia: 2011 Cricket World Cup final
• ESPNcricinfo