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Well, India has finally won the World Cup Cricket 2011 and it was captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s rock-solid performance that did the trick for which he won the Man of the Match award.

Dhoni just showed he is not only a captain but a match winner in India’s most crucial game ever: the World Cup Cricket 2011. He displayed his tremendous resilience when India lost two crucial wickets of Virendra Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar early and was literally hobbling under pressure.

For Sri Lanka, Mahela Jayawardene notched 103 runs of 88 balls and was supported by Kumar Sangakkara who missed his half century, scoring 48 in 67 balls.

Zaheer Khan took two wickets in the match and was declared joint highest wicket taker in the tournament along with Shahid Afridi with 21 wickets each. Yuvraj Singh also showed his bowling prowess, bagging two wickets in the finals.

India had to chase 275, which may look achievable normally but not in a World Cup final. The Indians held their nerves and Gautam Gambhir with his 97 and Dhoni with 91 helped India achieve its historic win even though India lost two crucial wickets early.

Youngster Virat Kohli also did his bit with his 35 of 49 balls. Some help from Yuvraj helped Dhoni finish the match in style: with a six.

The Man of the Tournament wasn’t really unpredictable: Yuvraj, who was in all-round form, also bagged four Man of the Match awards.

The Indian team had played like champions right from the onset of the knock out stage, knocking out mighty Australia in the quarter finals and arch rivals Pakistan in the semi finals.

Team India has been performing splendidly in the last few years. It not only became winners of the first Twenty20 World Cup but also clinched the top ranking in Test cricket for the first time ever. And now, the World Cup.

This stunning performance of India is owing to the lethal Dhoni-Garry Kirsten combination, which has put Indian cricket on a new pedestal.

But Kirsten is set to relinquish his post as coach and the Board of Control for Cricket in India or BCCI must find a way to retain him if it wants to see more successes for Team India.

The BCCI cannot afford to lose Kirsten to another team because he can replicate India’s great World Cup show elsewhere.

Also, this win comes as a fitting accolade to the greatest cricketer ever, Sachin, who has been waiting for two decades to pick up the coveted World Cup. Sachin had everything in the game of cricket except the World Cup, and now, he has that also.

Sachin admitted that winning the World Cup was the proudest moment of his life. In the World Cup, he scored 482, just behind Sri Lanka’s Tilakratne Dilshan.

Team India has bagged the top slot in Test cricket, and now, it has showed that it is the best one-day side. But the biggest challenge that lies ahead for Team India is retaining these titles in both formats of the game and Dhoni will have to be more than champion material to see his team stay on top.