May God make India win 100 tournaments but matching the atmosphere after 2011 World Cup win will be difficult: MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni was the captain of the Indian team, which won the ODI World Cup after 28 years. The Men in Blue defeated Sri Lanka on April 2, 2011, at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Dhoni scored an unbeaten 91, helping India chase down a 275-run target in 48.2 overs with six wickets to spare.

The legendary former India skipper participated in Parul University's Mission Possible program on Tuesday. During the event, Dhoni recalled the epic atmosphere created by the Indian fans during the latter stages of the 2011 World Cup final. The wicketkeeper-batter mentioned that fans started singing the iconic "Vande Mataram" choir as the summit clash was reaching its climax. Dhoni admitted that this was the best atmosphere he had experienced during his illustrious cricketing career.

While Dhoni wished to see both the Indian men's and women's teams winning more World Cups in the future, he believes that recreating such an atmosphere will be difficult for the fans.

“It was 15-20 minutes before the final delivery," Dhoni said. “Wankhede is not a very big stadium, but all the noise stays inside. The whole stadium started to chant Vande Mataram. It was not synchronised. It started somewhere but kept on moving like a Mexican Wave, but more with the voice. Standing in the middle, you could feel it moving around. In my cricketing career, I would say that was the best atmosphere, the best feeling I had at that point in time. Emotionally, I got very high, and that was a very touching moment," he said during the event.

“It is very difficult to recreate that kind of moment. India dobara bhi jeetegi, Women’s team jeetegi, Men’s team jeetegi, India mai jeetegi, India ke bahar jeetegi, bhagwan kare 100 baar jeetegi (India will win again, the Women’s team will win, the Men’s team will win, they will win in India and outside India as well, may god make them win 100 times), but the whole essence of how the game started, what went through, and how we started the run-chase, all those things matter," he added.

While Dhoni retired from international cricket in 2020, he continues representing the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League. He is all set to play his 19th consecutive season in the cash-rich league next year.