"I never thought I would cry after a win, but we all did" - MS Dhoni opens up on 2011 World Cup win

MS Dhoni with the World Cup trophy after India’s victory in 2011

Indian One-Day International (ODI) captain MS Dhoni has opened up on India’s historic World Cup win in 2011, saying that the win against Sri Lanka in the final at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, to hand India their first World Cup victory in 28 years was one of the rare occasions when emotions got the better of him.

"In the dressing room, everyone was crying. And everybody means everybody - all the 15 players, the support staff and everyone else associated with the team. In that sense, we really connected in the World Cup,” Dhoni revealed, in The Cricket Fanatic's Essential Guide, authored by Vimal Kumar and published by Hachette India.

"I never thought I would cry after a win, but we all did. The world can't see those emotions of the players because you don't have the footage of that, but it summed up the mood of that night", the 33-year-old added.

Dhoni, who struck a majestic 91* in the final, also spoke about how the immense pressure that the team faced, as they progressed through to the latter stages of the tournament, became very difficult to handle, so much so that they struggled to even eat properly at various times in the tournament.

"The pressure kept mounting on us as people's expectations were increasing with every win. They thought the quarter-final against Australia was the biggest game. And once we won that, there was an even bigger game against Pakistan in the semi-final.

"You know what happens with India-Pakistan games in the World Cup… people will keep telling you that this is the real final. And then, when we won that, we were aware of what was now expected from us. As much as we tried to divert the issue, the pressure we went through was a lot.

"At times, there would be food before the players and they wouldn't feel like eating it, due to anxiety."