2011 Cricket World Cup was a special one for India. Almost all the important players in the team, including Tendulkar, Zaheer, Dhoni and Yuvraj were in their prime form during that time. 19 February 2011 was the date when the first match of the World Cup was supposed to be played. India vs Bangladesh met to play the first group stage match of the WC at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka. The last time India had played Bangladesh in a WC match was in West Indies during the 2007 WC which India had lost. Thus, coming in to the match in 2011, there was a feeling to avenge that WC loss and India came out with that very intent.
India scored a total of 370 runs in the first innings and made their intentions clear for the rest of the tournament. Sehwag was the pillar of that India innings where he scored 175 runs in 140 balls. Virat Kohli also accompanied him to score a hundred.
ICC’s official Twitter account posted a video of Sehwag’s innings and wrote: “19 boundaries and one big century.@virendersehwag knew how to make a @cricketworldcup entrance. #CWC11Rewind”
Here is the video:
Click here for the full match report.
That innings set the tone for things to come. India went on to win the 2011 Cricket World Cup after defeating Sri Lanka in the final at the Wankhade Stadium in Mumbai.
Can we see such a performance from any of the current Indian openers? Do let us know.