India finally won a World Cup final at home in 2011
Until April 2011, no country had lifted cricket's World Cup on its own turf. India changed that at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, beating Sri Lanka by six wickets in the first final contested by two Asian sides, and with 135 million people in India watching live.
The tournament almost looked very different. Australia and New Zealand bid jointly under the name Beyond Boundaries and were the only bidders to meet the ICC's 1 March deadline, but the four Asian candidates were given more time. When the vote came in 2006, Asia won ten to three. Pakistan's board later said the West Indies vote had been decisive, while the Asian bid's monitoring chief credited a promise of around 400 million dollars in extra profits and denied any trade-off.
Four hosts became three. After the 2009 attack on Sri Lanka's team in Lahore, the ICC stripped Pakistan of its co-hosting role over security concerns, and the organising headquarters moved from Lahore to Mumbai. Pakistan's 14 matches, one of them a semi-final, were spread among the others. Bangladesh staged its first World Cup games and the opening ceremony in Dhaka, and even Eden Gardens in Kolkata lost a fixture when the ICC judged the ground unlikely to be ready in time.
Fourteen teams took part: all ten full members, Zimbabwe included despite having set aside its Test status, plus Ireland, Canada, the Netherlands and Kenya from a qualifier held in South Africa. The format borrowed from 1996, with two groups of seven feeding eight quarter-finalists, which guaranteed everyone at least six games.
The trimmings matched the scale. The official song came in Bengali, Hindi and Sinhala versions, one for each host, and a young elephant called Stumpy served as mascot. Prize money doubled, with 3 million dollars for the winners. Sachin Tendulkar was the official ambassador, and Yuvraj Singh was named player of the tournament. For the first time since 1992, Australia had no place in the final.
Source: 2011 Cricket World Cup
