2011 ODI World Cup winning team: Where are they now?

"Dhoni finishes off in style. A magnificent strike into the crowd! India lift the World Cup after 28 years!"

Ravi Shastri screamed these words during the commentary as Mahendra Singh Dhoni launched pacer Nuwan Kulasekara for a six over the long-on to end India's 28-year-old wait and helped Team India lift the World Cup trophy in front of a jam-packed Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

It has been almost seven years since that six – the six that sealed India’s World Cup triumph on April 2, 2011. It was India's first title since Kapil Dev led team India won the trophy in 1983 and also the perfect way for Sachin Tendulkar's World Cup career to end.

After a humiliating exit from the 2007 ODI World Cup with a team featuring the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Rahul Dravid, the Indian team faced a serious challenge of re-establishing the faith of their fans.

Playing the 2011 World Cup at home, captain MS Dhoni and the team management faced the tough task of selecting a team for the challenge. The squad that was announced was an expected one with a few surprises - Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra, and Piyush Chawla.

The Indian team has come a long way since that World Cup win and a lot has changed in the lives of every player who was in that squad. With just 10 days to go for the win's seventh anniversary, let’s take a look at what the members of the World Cup-winning team are up to now:

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#1 Virender Sehwag

The fiery opening batsman Virender Sehwag started the 2011 World Cup on a strong note with a knock of 175 vs Bangladesh in the opening match. He continued his good form and ended the World Cup with a tally of 380 runs with an average of 47.50.

After the World Cup, Sehwag continued playing for the national side, his state Delhi, for Delhi Daredevils and later Kings XI Punjab. He finally announced his retirement from all forms of the sport in October 2015.

Post his retirement, Sehwag has taken the world of commentary by storm. He is one of the most entertaining Hindi commentators and his humorous and sarcastic tweets on various topics attract a lot of attention.

In IPL 2018, Viru will be the head coach of the Kings XI Punjab team.

#2 Sachin Tendulkar

The master blaster, Sachin Tendulkar had to wait for six World Cups to get a hand on the trophy. He had an amazing 2011 World Cup, scoring two centuries against England and South Africa respectively.

Tendulkar scored 482 runs in the tournament, and was the second highest run-scorer in the World Cup, finishing second to Tillakaratne Dilshan of Sri Lanka who top-scored with 500 runs.

He announced his retirement from ODIs on 23rd December 2012, while his final Test was arranged at his home ground in Mumbai. He scored 74 runs in his last Test innings against West Indies.

Tendulkar is also one of the owners of ISL club Kerala Blasters and has actively supported his side. The highest run-getter in the world also mentors Mumbai Indians and is also a Rajya Sabha member.

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#3 Gautam Gambhir

The left-handed opening batsman from Delhi, Gautam Gambhir played one of the most crucial knocks in his career in the World Cup final. He scored a brilliant 97 and missed out on what could have been the most memorable century of his life.

But after that World Cup, Gambhir has not had a great international career. He was in and out of the national team for long before he made a comeback in the Test team in a series against New Zealand in 2016 and scored a quick-fire half-century in the second innings. He played his last international match against England on Nov 9, 2016.

The IPL journey has been completely different for him. He has had a great amount of success in the cash-rich league. Under his captaincy, Kolkata Knight Riders have won the IPL title twice. Gambhir will be leading the Delhi Daredevils in the 2018 IPL season.

#4 Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli started his World Cup campaign strongly with an unbeaten century against Bangladesh. He later scored 35 in the final, sharing an 83-run partnership with Gambhir, finishing the tournament with a tally of 282 runs in 9 matches.

Kohil has tasted great success in all formats of the game after the historic 2011 World Cup win. He broke several records, those of the finest cricketers the world has ever seen. He has also improved his fitness and has inspired others to do the same.

Not only in international cricket, he has had a great run in the IPL as well and scored four tons in a single season of IPL. He is a part of Royal Challengers Bangalore and will be captaining them in this years IPL as well.

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#4 MS Dhoni

The captain of the World Cup winning team, MS Dhoni carved his name in the history books when he hit that heart-stopping six in the final. Dhoni could not have batted any better than he did on that particular day. With a knock of unbeaten 91 in the final, he finished the World Cup with 241 runs at an average of 48.20.

Post World Cup, Dhoni has captained the team in all the formats, winning the Champions Trophy in England and leading Indian team to the No. 1 position in Test ranking. He retired from Test cricket in December 2014 and has continued to play the limited over formats.

In the coming IPL, Dhoni will be back in his captaincy role after quite a while and will be leading the Chennai Super Kings who are making a comeback after serving two years of suspension.

#6 Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh had the best ICC tournament of his life in the 2011 World Cup, winning the Player of the Tournament award. The all-rounder not only displayed class with his bat but also bowled several match-winning spells. He ended the tournament with 362 runs and 15 wickets under his belt.

After the World Cup, Yuvi had to undergo treatment for cancer. He was out of the cricket field for some time and then returned for the T20 World Cup in 2014 and then IPL as well.

Yuvraj hasn't been able to make a prominent comeback to the national team. He has worked a lot on his fitness and in the coming month, he will be playing for Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2018.

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#7 Suresh Raina

The Indian middle-order batsman, Suresh Raina was warming the bench in most of the World Cup games. But due to Sehwag's injury, he got to play his first World Cup game against West Indies. He also featured in the line-up against Australia in the quarter-final and scored a significant unbeaten 34. Gary Kirsten, the then coach of India, said, "Raina won the World Cup for us with some crucial knocks".

After the tournament, Raina cemented his place in the limited overs format. However, he was removed from the team after some time due to fitness related issues and made a comeback in the T20 against South Africa.

Raina remains the leading run-scorer in the IPL history and has played numerous match-winning knocks for the Chennai Super Kings. In the 2018 IPL season, Raina will be looking to score big and make a permanent comeback to the national side.

#8 Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh had a really good World Cup. Though he picked up only nine wickets, he kept things tight all throughout the tournament and assisted other Indian bowlers to continue attacking from the other end.

Unfortunately, Harbhajan was taken out of the national team post the World Cup. He made his last international appearance in a T20 match against UAE on March 3, 2016.

He has continued to play in the Indian Premier League and was a part of the Mumbai Indians. In the 2018 IPL, Harbhajan will be playing for the Chennai Super Kings.

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#9 Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan led the Indian bowling attack during the World Cup. He bowled several match-winning spells and picked up 21 wickets - the leading wicket-taker in the World Cup.

Zaheer was one of India's finest bowlers, however, due to injuries his international career was cut short. He announced his retirement from international cricket on 15th October 2015.

He, though, continued to play for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL. Before the auctions of IPL 2018, Zaheer withdrew his name, putting an end to his playing days. He will be commentating during the upcoming IPL season.

#10 Munaf Patel

Munaf Patel was one of the most underrated players in the 2011 World Cup. He managed to pick up 11 wickets and bowled a tight line all through the tournament.

After the World Cup, he rarely played for the national team again and featured in his last ODI against England in September of that very year. He still plays for Baroda in the Ranji Trophy where he recently picked up 6 for 13 against Services.

Munaf missed three seasons of the Indian Premier League before making a comeback in the 2017 season. In this year's auction, Munaf went unsold which means he would be again missing the IPL carnival.

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#11 S Sreesanth

Sreesanth featured in only two games in the 2011 World Cup. He got to play in the first match in place of injured Praveen Kumar but was very expensive. The next game he played was the final. But here also he could not do much and conceded 52 runs in the 8 overs he bowled.

He last played an international game against England in the very same year. After that, he continued to play in the IPL for his home team Kochi Tuskers and then Kings XI Punjab. However, he was involved in a spot-fixing scandal during the 6th edition of the IPL and subsequently, the BCCI put a ban on him.

Last year, Kerala high court revoked his ban and the pacer is now eyeing a comeback.

#12 Ravichandran Ashwin

They were early days in Ashwin's career and with the likes of Harbhajan Singh in the squad, he got to play only two matches in the World Cup. In the two games he played, Ashwin managed to pick up four wickets at an impressive average of 23.25.

After the World Cup, things took a bright turn for the Tamil Nadu spinner. He cemented his place in the playing XI in all the formats of the game and broke several records. In the Test format, he became the fastest bowler to take 300 wickets.

Ashwin also had an impressive IPL career after the World Cup. He bowled amazingly well for the Chennai Super Kings. In the 2018 season of IPL, Ashwin will be captaining the Kings XI Punjab side.

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#13 Ashish Nehra

Ashish Nehra had a decent World Cup but he proved to be a tad too expensive in few games. He also failed to defend 13 runs in the final over against South Africa. However, he made a promising comeback in the match against Pakistan where he bagged two wickets and conceded just 33 runs in his 10 overs spell.

Due to injuries, Nehra was not able to make it to the Indian squad after the World Cup. But he never gave up and continued putting in efforts to get a call from the national team. He finally made a national comeback in the T20 squad for India’s tour of Australia in 2016, the Asia Cup and the World T20.

In the IPL as well, he used his years of experience and bowled several match-winning spells. Nehra announced his retirement on 12th October 2017 and played his last international game on 1st November of the same year.

In the coming IPL season, Nehra will be the bowling coach of RCB.

#14 Piyush Chawla

The leg-spinner, Piyush Chawla got an opportunity to play ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin in the World Cup. He featured in three games in the tournament where he bowled a total of 28 overs and picked up four wickets at an average of 43.50.

Due to the loss of form, Chawla lost his place in the national side. He, however, continued playing in the Ranji Trophy. He his now playing for Gujarat in the domestic cricket. Chawla bowled an amazing spell in October last year and returned with figures of 5/69 to bundle out Kerala for 208 runs.

In IPL, he has been a consistent performer for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Not only with the ball, he has won quite a few games with the bat as well. He will continue playing for KKR in the upcoming IPL season.

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#15 Yusuf Pathan

Yusuf Pathan had a disappointing World Cup as he managed to score only 74 runs in the six matches he played. He was handed the role of a pinch-hitter in the team who can roll his arms over as well if needed.

After the World Cup, Pathan didn't feature for India as much but he carried his career forward, playing for his state team Baroda, and for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. He gave a few memorable performances in the T20 league.

Last year, a ban was imposed on him for failing a doping test. However, he will be eligible to play in the coming IPL and will be a part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad.