‘It wasn’t a very happy MS Dhoni’ – Graeme Swann recalls final moments from epic India-England CWC’11 tie

MS Dhoni-led India created history when they won the 2011 ODI World Cup as they became the first-ever host country to return with the elusive trophy and also end the country’s 28-year-long title drought in the 50-over format.

En route to the title, Dhoni & Co. defeated the likes of Australia, West Indies, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the summit clash. India’s only defeat came versus South Africa whereas they played a humdinger of a clash versus England in the league stage. Playing their second game of the tournament, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, India faced the Andrew Strauss-led Poms in a high-scoring affair.

Batting first, India rode on Sachin Tendulkar’s 120 and fifties from Gautam Gambhir-Yuvraj Singh to post 338 all-out in 49.5 overs. In reply, Strauss’ 158 and Ian Bell’s 69 ensured England were cruising at 281-2 before a lower-order collapse saw them end at 338/8 as the match ended in a tie.

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Recently, former English spinner Graeme Swann recalled the epic contest and shared an interesting story, where Indian captain Dhoni wasn’t pleased with his fielders.

“We were cruising, we were all laughing and joking in the changing room. ‘Hah, they are 20 runs short’, ‘Hah, look at how good we are’. Then all of a sudden, Mishra (Piyush Chawla) got a couple of wickets (of Jonathan Trott and Tim Bresnan). We got really bogged down then. And suddenly, we were never winning the game. And then, as it always happens in one-day cricket, it was down to bowlers to bail out the batsmen and try to win. So, we walked in. I hit Mishra (Chawla) for a six! I picked a googly and hit him for a six and it kind of got us back to the game.

“We still needed 14 runs to win. And Aj (Ajmal Shahzad) came in, and he’s like, ‘what’s happening big lad?’ I went, ‘mate, let’s just do our best’. And in his first ball, he smacked it straight over my head for a six. He’s like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe that!’” Swann (chuckled) recalled in a video for cricket.com.

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“It was down to 4 needed off 2 balls. We scampered for two when it should’ve never been two. It wasn’t a very happy MS Dhoni, I can assure you that. On the last ball, it was too full to get underneath and the extra cover dived and stopped it. We only got one,” Swann concluded.

Interestingly, Dhoni’s first World Cup as captain — both in T20I and ODI format — saw him lead the side to the coveted title. In both the tournaments, i.e. the 2007 T20 WC and 2011’s mega-event, one game each for India ended in a tie (versus Pakistan and England, respectively).