By Abhishek Roy, IANS,
Mumbai : Legendary Sachin Tendulkar was a given a grand reception as his teammates carried him on their shoulders for a victory lap of the packed Wankhede Stadium after India beat Sri Lanka to win the World Cup a second time after 28 years.
For Tendulkar, who played his sixth World cup it was a dream come true at his home ground.
“Couldn’t have asked for anything more than this,” said Tendulkar, who finished as the second highest run-getter of the tournament (482 runs) behind Tillakaratne Dilshan (500).
“Winning the world cup is the proudest moment of my life. Thanks to my team-mates. Without them, nothing would have happened. I couldn’t control my tears of joy. Thanks to the support staff. Thanks to Mike Horn, who has helped me cope with the expectations and pressure,” he said.
“The team stuck together in the rough phases and proved people wrong who doubted our ability. Self belief has been always there but in the last two years, we have been very consistent. It’s been great honour to be part of this team. Thanks to Gary (Kirsten) and Paddy Upton,” the batting maestro said.
The whole nation was eagerly awaiting a fairytale end for Tendulkar to get his 100th international century at the Wankhede and guiding his team to victory.
Like all fairytales this one at the Wankhede had a happy ending too. The only aberration was Tendulkar not getting his much-awaited feat.
But it didn’t matter for the Indian team, which had always said that they wanted to win the Cup for Tendulkar, who had carried a billion hopes for the last 21 years.
On Saturday, it was on the young shoulders of his team mates that carried Tendulkar to World Cup glory, which was the only missing thing in his glittering career.
It took six World Cup final for Tendulkar to achieve his ultimate dream.
Man of the series Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan also turned emotional and dedicated the win to Tendulkar.
(Abhishek Roy can be contacted at [email protected])