Rewind to 2011: The controversy of the coin toss at the World Cup final

India won its second 50 over World Cup in 2011 on 2^nd April 2011, after beating Sri Lanka in the finals at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

But the final was not without its share of controversies and the biggest of them all happened at the very beginning of the match. All the people who mattered including Indian captain MS Dhoni, Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara and match referee New Zealand’s Jeff Crowe and commentator Ravi Shastri were at the pitch in the middle for the toss and the biggest controversy happened at the toss itself.

As MS Dhoni tossed the coin high in the air, Sangakkara made his call, but due to noise in the ground neither Dhoni nor referee Jeff Crowe and commentator Ravi Shastri heard Sangakkara’s call. Therefore for the first time in the World Cup final’s history, the toss was redone and it was won by the Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara, who decided to bat first.

The controversy took place when former England captain Michael Vaughan claimed that Kumar Sangakkara had cheated. He claimed that he had heard him calling tails on air and that he had lost the toss the first time. But when Dhoni and the match referee couldn’t hear what Sangakkara called, he kept quiet and played ignorant, leading to the toss to be redone, which he won the second time.

Another side of the story is that the TV producers had heard what Sangakkara had called for and had won the toss even the first time, but since Dhoni and the match referee couldn’t hear what Sangakkara had called; the toss had to be redone.

Sri Lanka batted first after winning the toss and scored 274/6 thanks to Mahela Jayawardene’s 103*. India’s reply was based on a brilliant 97 from Gautam Gambhir and the late assault by MS Dhoni, who promoted himself over the Man of the tournament Yuvraj Singh and guided India to the win making 91* and hitting the winning runs via a six over the long on to make India World champions for the second time after a wait of 28 years.

Who said what after winning the World Cup? – Quotes from Indian players after the World Cup 2011 victory