When Harbhajan Singh slept with the 2011 WC medal around his neck

The beauty of Team Indiarsquos World Cup victory on April 2 2011 exactly 10 years ago was that it was not dominated by one or two players It was the culmination of a team effort where every player chipped in with valuable contributions at different stages If Sachin Tendulkar topscored with 482 runs in nine matches there was Gautam Gambhir 393 Virender Sehwag 380 and Yuvraj Singh 362 who consistently scored too Pace ace Zaheer Khan led the bowling charts with 21 wickets but Yuvraj 15 Munaf Patel 11 and Harbhajan Singh 9 provided regular breakthroughs as wellmidday caught up with Harbhajan on Wednesday for a chat on that famous World Cup win at the Wankhede Stadium The veteran offspinner recalled some of the special moments from Indiarsquos titlewinning campaign including the highpressure Pakistan encounter and the summit clash against Sri LankaEdited excerpts from the interviewCan you believe itrsquos 10 years since the 2011 World Cup winItrsquos crazy how time flies It feels like all that happened just recently Itrsquos all still fresh in the mind But I donrsquot really get goosebumps when I go to the Wankhede Stadium because we have played so many times there after thatHarbhajan Singh is ecstatic after dismissing SL opener T Dilshan in the World Cup final PicAFPCould you pick one special moment from the campaignThe most special moment was lifting the World Cup Nothing can beat that feeling I slept with the World Cup medal in my neck that night Speaking about good performances there were many Zaheerrsquos performance against Australia in the QF where he bowled Mike Hussey 3 and had Cameron White caught and bowled 12 That turned the game in our favour and then those three wickets of Englandrsquos Andrew Strauss Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood in the tied match The semifinal win against Pakistan was very special tooTell us about those two wickets you took in the semifinal against PakistanFor most of us that was like the final When you play against Pakistan in a high pressure game with both Prime Ministers watching losing is unacceptable Itrsquos a highpressure atmosphere When I came to bowl my second spell I was shivering It was important not to leak too many runs and also to take wickets I dismissed Umar Akmal 29 off the very first ball It lifted my confidence I then bowled some yorkerlength deliveries to Shahid Afridi 19 I couldnrsquot afford to give him room to free his arms because the pitch was too good to bat on and with dew coming in it was not easy to bowl either I knew that if I kept a few balls tight hersquod give away his wicket because he canrsquot stay out in the middle for long without doing anything And my plan worked His dismissal was most satisfying because had he stayed longer he could have made it a onesided affairCan you talk us through SL opener T Dilshanrsquos wicket in the finalI knew that hersquos very good on the offside If you bowled a little short he would cut the ball well I wanted to take that shot out of his game So I tried bowling round the wicket and to his off stump so if he tried to cut there was a chance of an inside edge going on to the stumps And if he tried to sweep there was a chance of a LBW And he went for the sweep He played a tad early the ball bounced a bit hit his gloves and deflected on to the stumps Initially I didnrsquot know that he was bowled and realised it only after wicketkeeper MS Dhoni began celebratingHow do you feel when comparisons are drawn between the 2011 team and Indiarsquos 1983 World Cupwinning sideI feel the 1983 team were the best in that era and the one that played in 2011 were the best in their era And the current Indian team are the best of this era Comparisons should not be done to gauge which is the best Indian team Itrsquos unfair and also disrespectful to compare what both the teams have achieved The 1983 team inspired us to win the World Cup again Itrsquos about carrying the legacy forward We now hope our current team can take this legacy ahead