Satyamev Jayate
Even before the first ball of the World cup final was bowled, the entire world witnessed a bizarre happening. Dhoni flipped the coin in the air for Sangakkara to call. Sangakkara mumbled his call, and had apparently lost the toss but the toss ended up being disputed – the first time such an event taking place in a world cup match. Blame it to the cacophony generated by the boisterous Mumbaikars at the Wankhede stadium- or to the match referee Jeff Crowe who failed to lend his right ear to Sangakkara’s whispered call or to Ravi Shastri who said that the toss was drowned out by the din or to the great generosity and sportsman spirit shown by MSD- the coin was spun again. Sangakkara correctly called this time and chose to bat. Obviously Sangakkara knew that he had lost the first toss, but cleverly created confusion and got away with it. Sangakkara clearly cheated MSD, because he knew how important the toss was. MSD lost the toss but won the match. The truth, as the Sanskrit saying say, always prevails!

MSD
Cool, Collected, Composed, Unflappable, Imperturbable, Unflustered, Levelheaded- I kept on searching synonyms from the thesaurus till the thesaurus ran out of adjectives required to describe the qualities of the magnificent Indian captain. Today he showed the stuff the great captains are made of. In the first eight WC matches, his bat did not talk much. He had probably chosen the WC final to show why he is feared as one of the most destructive batsman in the world. MSD promoted himself to No. 5 above Yuvraj Singh to join Gambhir, showing clearly that he was not afraid of carrying the burden of responsibility onto his aching shoulders. Combining caution with aggression he not only made Gambhir run between the wickets, but also ensured that he stayed till the mission was achieved. I can never forget the sense of serene satisfaction that the TV camera captured from his eyes when he hit the winning six.

Zaheer Khan
His first bowling spell was exceptional: it read 5-3-6-1. His three consecutive maiden overs in the world cup final and a wicket of Upul Tharanga led to just 31 runs being scored in the first 60 balls of the game. He took a wicket, did not allow Dilshan and Tharanga to free their arms and ensured that the Sri Lankan opening pair fails to flourish flamboyantly.

4 S
Sehwag, Sachin, Sreesanth and Suresh (Raina) – each of them was supposed to play a key role in the WC final. The first three did not click and the last was not required to demonstrate his batting skills. And yet, the team India showed that it could win even though the great Indian opening pair parts in the second ball of the inning, even though Sachin lasts only seven overs and Sreesanth gifts boundary in every over he bowls. No, in this WC, the Indian team did not depend solely on the 4 S but asked A to Z (Ashish to Zaheer) to contribute. And each of them did rise to the occasion.

The Delhi Daredevils
Gambhir and Virat Kohli -the Delhi daredevils were in silvery touch today. At 31 for 2- with Sachin and Sehwag gone- the team badly wanted them to stay till at least 30 overs and the pair did not let the team down. More importantly, the pair kept pace with the asking rate, not letting it cross six. The Iron- willed Delhi boys possessed nerves of steel, and played superbly- their each stroke worth a gram of gold. And when he was just a shot away from what would have been a very satisfying WC final century, Gambhir threw his wicket. Only goes on to show that devils can be human too!

Running for Life
Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh- it was treat to watch Indians saving certain boundaries and putting enough pressure on the opponents by not letting them rotate the strike. The way Yuvraj leaped and saved several savage shots- refusing to let anything go beyond him would have made Jonty Rhodes very jealous of him. And the way Gambhir ran twos, responding to every call that his skipper made, and dived full length to make it to the crease were indeed very special images that every Indian would love to treasure – for good.

The missing case of Mendis and Herath
Why Sreesanth, and why not R. Ashwin? Even MSD in a post-match interview could not answer this question. Why Mendis and Herath were asked to cool their heels in the pavilion and why Randiv was urgently flown to Mumbai- Sangakkara can never justify his choice. Mendis bowled superbly all through the tournament and his absence, to say the least, in the world cup final was inexplicable. Sangakkara went by Mendis’ past track record against India and ignored his current form. A heavy price Sangakkara paid for making wrong choices.

Malinga: Where was thy sting?
Lasith Malinga -Sri Lanka’s terrifying threat. He can bowl deadly yorkers in the death overs. He has two world cup hatricks to his credit. A bowler who gives no space, no room and no time to a batsman…his slingers hit the batsman’s pads or the stumps even before the batsman finishes saying Malinga. MSD- Most Stylish Destroyer- tamed the fearsome tiger in the final powerplay. When 15 runs were required from 17 balls, MSD’s powerful wrists scored consecutive boundaries off Lasith Malinga. He did dismiss Sehwag and Sachin in his initial spell, but seemed to have exhausted his venom when it mattered most- in the final powerplay. The first time Lalinga could not produce his lethal deliveries in the powerplay.

Murali: Where was thy magic?
If Malinga fails, can Murali be far behind? The Murali magic was completely missing in the world cup final. The greatest spinner of the world, turned very predictable in the WC final. Sorely missing was his ability to turn the ball on any surface and his ability to inject an element of uncertainty in the batmen’s mind. So much so, that Kumar Sangakkara preferred Kulsekara over Murali in the final powerplay. Like Don Bradman getting out for a duck in his final test inning, Murali too went wicket less in the world cup final.

The power of zillion prayers
From neonates to ninety-plus: every Indian on the planet was praying for the victory for the Indian team. People went to the mosques, churches, temples and Gurudwaras to offer their prayers for team India. Atheists were converted into believers. Superstitions abounded. Doubting Cassandras were lambasted and shut off. Niels Bohr’s famous warning – “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future “was ignored. Instead, Professional omen readers were widely consulted. Everybody did almost everything that could even remotely fetch luck for the team. The power of prayers indeed worked for team India.