7 Interesting Facts About Cricket World Cup 2011

On 2nd April 2011, commentator Ravi Shastri said “Dhoni finishes off in style. A magnificent strike into the crowd! India lift the World Cup after 28 years!”

If you’re a cricket fan, then just reading this statement would have brought on a sensation of unmatched euphoria. For us, Cricket is not just a game, it is an emotion. More importantly, it’s an escape. It gives us a chance to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. Cricket gives us the latitude to discuss game strategies, debate players’ proficiencies, reminisce about the peaks of our favorite players, predict winners, and be a part of a collective entity that lives and breathes this sport. No social gathering is complete without a mention of India’s next tournament. 

The history of Cricket is saturated with iconic moments, but one moment that can’t ever be forgotten is the 2011 World Cup. Over the years, we have dissected every match, replayed every moment of the tournament. So is there anything left to uncover? Well yes! 

We are here to tell you that there are some factoids about the 2011 World Cup that is still relatively unknown. So get ready as we are about to traverse the world of nostalgia and discover 7 unheard facts about the 2011 Cricket World Cup: 

1. 29 Matches, 8 Venues, 1 Country

Did you know that Pakistan almost co-hosted the semi-finals of the tournament? In the year 2006, the International Cricket Council declared four countries eligible to host the 2011 world cup wherein Bangladesh was given charge to host the opening ceremony; followed by Sri Lanka and Pakistan co-hosting the semi-final matches, and India was to host the finals. But due to the security threats in Pakistan the semi-final matches were then expected to be held in India, leaving the country to arrange 29 different matches in 8 different venues. 

These eight venues included Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium and Narendra Modi Stadium (formerly known as Sardar Patel Stadium) in Ahmedabad, Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur, Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi (formerly known as Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium), M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Inderjit Singh Bindra Stadium in Mohali and Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Eden Gardens is one of the oldest cricket stadiums in the world and is the third-largest in the world. The stadium was being prepared to organize a match between India and England when it was declared unfit by the ICC in January and the match was shifted to M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

2. INDIA vs PAKISTAN

How can we talk about cricket without mentioning India vs. Pakistan? During the 2011 World Cup semi-finals, an iconic India vs. Pakistan match was held in Mohali’s Inderjit Singh Bindra Stadium. Around 1400 tickets were distributed for the game, and spectators from across the border were also permitted to watch the game live. The then-Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh invited President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to the stadium to watch the match. 

Due to the attack on the Sri Lankan team in Pakistan in 2019, security was raised to the maximum. The fans were rumored to threaten the Indian team from losing to Pakistan and letting it play in the finals. According to the Indian Cricket Geeks, allowing Pakistan to win on our soil would be exceedingly humiliating, thus they rooted for the Indian team to win.

3. ICC Budget For CWC 2011 

Prof Ratnakar Shetty the then Chief Administrative Officer of the Cricket Board and Tournament Director, after the budget meeting informed that the total estimated budget would be $40-$50 million. A total sum of $8.01 million was allocated as the prize money which was eventually raised to a whopping amount of $10 million. The success of the tournament retrieved a humongous profit of $321.1 million back to ICC. 

4. The Team That Won On Its TURF

The India National Cricket Team became the first team to win the cup in its homeland and not let it go to any other country to celebrate ‘homecoming’. Before 2011 a total of nine Cricket World Cups were played out of which four were organized in England (in the years 1975, 1979, 1983, 1999); India and Pakistan co-hosted CWC 1983 and 1986; CWC 1992 was hosted by Australia and New Zealand; CWC 2003 was hosted by South Africa; CWC 2007 was hosted by West Indies; and CWC was co-hosted by India, Sri-Lanka and Bangladesh. Seeing the records of winning teams throughout these nine World Cups, none of the teams were able to keep the trophy back.

5. Only Asian Countries in Finals

It was the first time in the history of the World Cup that two of the final teams to compete for the trophy were Sri Lanka and India, both being Asian countries. These teams played against New Zealand and Pakistan respectively in their semi-final match and made their way to the finals. 

6. The World Cup Anthem

Remember how we were all grooving to “De Ghuma Ke” throughout 2011? You’d have to be living under a rock if you haven’t heard it yet, but don’t worry if you haven’t, now is your time to listen to it. The 2011 World Cup anthem was composed by Shankar-Ehsan-Loy making it a very upbeat and catchy song for all of us. The song was produced in Hindi, Sinhala, and Bangla commemorating the three host nations. The Sinhala version of the song “Sinha Udane” was translated and produced by Ranidu Linkage; and the Bangla version “Mar Ghuri” by Raghab Chatterjee. 

7. Why STUMPY as a Mascot? 

A 10-year-old elephant who could play cricket and was appointed as the Mascot of the 2011 World Cup! The elephant was selected as a Mascot in Colombo, Sri Lanka. There were majorly two reasons to select an elephant for the tournament. The first reason is that Elephant is the national animal of Sri Lanka and the second one as explained by ICC were more to do with the qualities of the animal. Stumpy was selected because of his love for the game and the sportsmanship traits he portrayed. 

The selection of Elephant as a Mascot can also be traced back to the India V/S England match played at Kennington Oval in 1971. This was the time when an Elephant Bella visited the Oval resulting in India’s victory in the game. 

Revisiting this iconic moment in the history of time was certainly fulfilling for us. We tried to highlight some of the much lesser-known facts about the 2011 world cup, but let us know if we missed anything.