On Gautam Gambhir's 43rd birthday, revisiting the ICC ODI World Cup 2011 final would be the most appropriate thing to do. The present head coach of India was a former opening batter who scored tons of runs for the country. Starting from the T20 World Cup in 2007 to the ODI World Cup in 2011, Gambhir has played some fantastic knocks to help India lift the trophy. Nevertheless, the WC in 2011 was extra special because it was played at Mumbai's iconic Wankhede Stadium.
Everything started with Sri Lanka winning the toss and choosing to bat first. The first few overs were delightful for India as some early wickets came in and the pressure was on Sri Lanka. However, things changed drastically when Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene started playing freely and hitting the ball all around the ground. While Sangakkara scored 48 runs, Jayawardene went on to score a century. After their dismissal, the lower-order batters came and started striking the ball, taking the score to 274 runs.
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In a normal ODI match, 274 runs might seem less, but in a World Cup finals, it's equivalent to 300+ runs. This was not it as the most heartbreaking moment came in for India when Virender Sehwag was dismissed on the second ball of the innings. A few overs later, Sachin Tendulkar was out, silencing the Wankhede Stadium crowd. Then Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli formed a terrific partnership.
Gambhir was in a different form that day. After Kohli's wicket, Dhoni walked in. They formed a 100+ runs partnership, stabilizing the Indian innings. Gambhir scored 97 runs in 122 balls, including nine boundaries. It was one of the most important innings of his life and he made sure that he did everything he could for India to win the game. India went on to win the game quite comfortably and lifted the World Cup after 28 years, one of the most iconic moments in Indian cricket history.
Gautam Gambhir's transition from player to head coach
After dedicating almost a decade to the country as a player, Gautam Gambhir returned to the Indian team as their head coach. His coaching stint started against Sri Lanka where India won the T20I series but lost the ODI series. Later, India won both the red-ball and white-ball series against Bangladesh.
The real test will start from the New Zealand series as it's going to be a great competition. After this, India will travel to Australia to play the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024. Even though India have been winning the series for a decade now, the pressure will be on Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir to fill in the shoes of the former captain and coach.
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