3 min readMar 24, 2026 07:57 PM IST
On March 24, 2011 the Indian cricket team did the unthinkable: the Men in Blue defeated a rampaging Australian cricket team in an ODI World Cup to end their campaign to win a fourth Cricket World Cup title on the trot. Australia arrived at that Ahmedabad quarter-final with a formidable record: they were unbeaten in 14 matches at a World Cup, a run which had seen them win the titles in the 1999, 2003, and 2007 editions. Their record was made even more envious by the fact that they had not lost a knockout game in the tournament since 1999.
Batting first, Australia scored 260/6 in 50 overs. The bulk of that total was scored by Ricky Ponting, who scored 104 runs off 118 balls. But no other Australian batter managed to cross fifty. Yuvraj Singh returned with figures of 2/44 for India’s bowling, while the rest of the attack took wickets at regular intervals to restrict the Australians from taking off.
MS Dhoni said in the post-match presentation: “I’d have been satisfied keeping them to 250, we had our best fielding unit today. I think we saved around 15 runs that we hence did not need to chase.”
India’s chase of 261 began with contributions at the top and in the middle. Sachin Tendulkar was the top-scorer with 53 off 68 balls, while Gautam Gambhir, who currently sits in the dug out as coach, scored 50 from 64 balls. A young Virat Kohli also made 24 runs. But India lost wickets at regular intervals, keeping the target in balance during the mid-overs.
But even after India lost the wicket of Dhoni, the Men in Blue scored the final 70 runs without losing another wicket. That was thanks to Yuvraj Singh’s 57 runs off 65 balls and Suresh Raina’s 34 runs off 28 balls. Bot southpaws joined forces to take India to 261/5 in 47.4 overs with an unbroken partnership of 73 runs.
Yuvraj sealed the victory with 14 balls to spare, smashing a boundary off Brett Lee to finish the match. The left-hand batsman ended with 57 runs and 2/44 and got the Player of the Match award, his fourth award of the tournament.
In the presentation ceremony after the game, Yuvraj said: “The pressure today, playing Australia, it was something else. When Dhoni got out, I knew we still had Raina to come, and thought if we added 40-odd runs it would be good… 260 was a good score, Ponting batted outstandingly but we chased well.”
Story continues below this ad
Dhoni explained the team decision during the chase: “70-odd runs needed with the last batting pair, it basically meant if we played 50 overs with Yuvraj and Raina, we would make it… Raina is technically better and we were keen on batting 50 overs.”
The outcome ended Australia’s bid for a fourth consecutive World Cup, and its unbeaten run through knockout matches. India reached the semifinal to play against Pakistan and eventually won the tournament by defeating Sri Lanka in the finals at Wankhede Stadium.
