|| Desk Report ||

Former Sports Minister of Sri Lanka Mahindananda Aluthgamage has claimed that the 2011 World Cup final match between Sri Lanka and India was fully fixed one. 

India led by Mahindra Singh Dhoni hit an iconic six and won the 2011 quadrennial cup by six wickets with 10 bowls in hand in the high-octane final at the Wankhede Stadium.

The then Sports Minister of Sri Lanka Aluthgamage, however, revealed that the match was fixed but didn’t clarify his statement with any sorts of name and believe that the Islanders could have clinched the trophy.

“I would not involve the cricketers in this. However, certain groups were definitely involved in fixing the game,” Aluthgamage was quoted as saying in an interview.

Sri Lanka batted first and managed to put on a fighting score of 274 runs for the loss of six wickets in the thrilling final fixture. Mahela Jayawardene, who played his last World Cup smacked a staggering 103 runs off 88 balls with the help of 13 boundaries. He also got decent support from then skipper Kumar Sangakkara and paceman Nuwan Kulasekara, where both scored 30s and 40s.

While defending the target, veteran pacer Lasith Malinga flicked the home side with a couple of massive blows. The pacer got rid of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag early in the innings and made a pin drop silence in the opposition dugout. However, the 83 run partnership between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli bailed India out to some extent.

In the end, Thisara Perera cleaned bowled Gambhir on 97. But the Man in Blue skipper MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh pulled the strings of the match to the end. Dhoni sealed the fate of the game by deposing Kulasekara over long-on and gave India the taste of the World Cup after 28 long years.