"When Sri Lanka reached the 2011 World Cup final, we were sure of winning the trophy" - Virender Sehwag
2011 Cricket World Cup winner Virender Sehwag recalled how there was a different type of confidence in the Indian squad after they defeated Australia in the quarterfinals of the mega event.
Speaking on Cricbuzz Live Hindi ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 semifinal match between Pakistan and Australia, Sehwag revealed that the Indian squad was confident of winning the 2011 World Cup after Sri Lanka qualified for the final. Having registered many wins against the Islanders in the build-up to the mega event, India approached the summit clash with a winning mentality.
"When we used to have a chat in the Indian camp, we were talking about how we can defeat Pakistan and Sri Lanka," he said. "When Sri Lanka reached the final, we were sure of winning because when Gary Kirsten was the coach, we played many matches against Sri Lanka and recorded many wins. We had a clear mindset that we will win the World Cup, we just had to play to our potential on the big day."
Sri Lanka played in the first semifinal of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and defeated New Zealand for a place in the summit clash. Soon after, India booked their place in the final by beating Pakistan.
On April 2, 2011 India became the first team to win the 50-over World Cup on home soil with a six-wicket victory against Sri Lanka.
Virender Sehwag explains how India's mindset changed after beating Australia
Virender Sehwag spoke about Australia's dominance in knockout games and mentioned that the Indian team knew neither Pakistan nor Sri Lanka had a stronger squad than Australia. Hence, when the Men in Blue prevailed over the Aussies in the quarterfinals, they knew they could win the trophy.
"See when we defeated Australia in the 50-over World Cup, we knew that neither Pakistan nor Sri Lanka are stronger than them," he added. "If we can defeat them, we can defeat the other two as well. We knew we could win the World Cup. So that was our mindset after the win against Australia."
India is set to host the 50-over World Cup in 2023. It will be interesting to see if the Men in Blue can regain their crown.