MS Dhoni Reveals 'Best Feeling' From 2011 World Cup Final. It's Not Match-Winning Six

It's been 12 years since MS Dhoni-led Team India won the 2011 ODI World Cup, beating Sri Lanka in the final. Dhoni, who hadn't been in the best of form throughout the tournament, stepped up and delivered on the occasion that most mattered, scoring an unbeaten 91-run knock to take the team over the line, ending a 28-year-long wait for an ICC trophy. Reliving the memories from the epic triumph, Dhoni revealed the ‘best memory' from the final, and it wasn't the one where he hit the title-winning six to Nuwan Kulasekara.

In a conversation with host Sanjana Ganesan, and fellow guest and former Australia batter Mike Hussey, Dhoni revealed new stories from the day, including a revelation that the usually unflappable Captain Cool found himself getting emotional when India was on the brink of sealing the chase.

"The best feeling was 15-20 minutes (before the winning moment)," said Dhoni as quoted by ICC.

"We did not need a lot of runs, the partnership was well-placed, there was a lot of dew. And the stadium started to sing Vande Mataram. That atmosphere I feel is very difficult to recreate - maybe in this [upcoming 2023] World Cup, there is a similar scenario, once the stadium, the fans start contributing."

"You know, it is a very difficult (atmosphere) one to replicate. But it can only be replicated if the occasion is similar to that (in 2011) and there are like 40, 50 or 60,000 people who are singing."

"To me, it was not the winning moment, it was 15-20 minutes ago when emotionally I was very high. And at the same time, I wanted to get done with it. We knew that we will win this from here, and it was very difficult for us to lose. So yes, you know it was more of a sense of satisfaction, job done, let us move on from here,"