ICC Cricket World Cup 2011: Recalling the 6 most iconic dismissals by Indian bowlers

On this day, nine years ago, India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to end a 28-year wait for a World Cup title.

MS Dhoni finished things off in the final after Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli helped India recover from the early jolts of losing Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar cheaply.

India beat Australia and Pakistan in the knockout stages of the World Cup after a shaky group stage in which they lost to South Africa and tied against England.

A bowling attack led by Zaheer Khan - who picked up 21 wickets in the tournament - evolved into a complete attack by the end of the tournament, with important contributions throughout the tournament from the likes of Munaf Patel and Yuvraj Singh.

Here, we take a look at five iconic wickets taken by the Indian bowlers in that tournament.

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#1 Mike Hussey b Zaheer Khan (Quarterfinal)

Zaheer Khan's knuckle-ball was hugely productive during the whole tournament

Of course, our first pick had to be something from India's best bowler in the tournament. With the then ICC regulations mandating a change of ball at the end of the 34th over, Zaheer was Dhoni's trump-card in the middle overs, where he would generally come in for a couple of overs to use the reverse swing on offer.

But while the batsmen had to worry about the reverse swing, Zaheer also developed the knuckle-ball that he delivered to perfection in the World Cup.

The seam position didn't change, the action didn't change, but the ball took an age to reach the batsmen. Hussey was through with his flick, played another couple of shots, and then the ball arrived.

Zaheer had once again struck with the old ball, flummoxing another very good batsman with his guile, and most importantly, his ability to execute perfection under pressure.

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#2 Andrew Strauss LBW Zaheer Khan (Group Stage)

Andrew Strauss's brilliant knock was ended by Zaheer Khan

After India had made 338 batting first at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, England were coasting to the target, needing just 59 runs off the last eight overs, with eight wickets in hand. Zaheer, though, had three overs left to bowl, and Dhoni threw the ball to him - the last throw of the dice.

After Ian Bell miscued one to Virat Kohli at cover, Andrew Strauss, who was batting on 159, got one of the balls of the tournament, and it was one that he could do nothing about.

From over the wicket to the left-hander, Zaheer delivered a searing in-swinging yorker, which breached Strauss's defence and crashed into his front boot, right in front of middle stump.

Zaheer would eventually round that spell off with another wicket when he rattled Paul Collingwood's timber with another slower ball.

The wicket of Strauss was the most important, but that spell from Zaheer brought India back into the game, and but for some tailender heroics for England, India would have taken home the two points, instead of the one they eventually got for the tie.

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#3 Umar Akmal b Harbhajan Singh (Semifinal)

Umar Akmal was threatening to take the game away from India before Harbhajan Singh sent him back

After Yuvraj Singh had sent Asad Shafiq and Younis Khan back to the pavilion in quick succession, Umar Akmal walked out with a clear plan - he was going to attack Yuvraj and make India fret about the completion of the fifth bowler's overs. Akmal was successful as well, as he struck two sixes and a four off Yuvraj, as he raced to 29 when the umpires called for drinks.

At the break, Pakistan needed 119 to win off 17 overs, and Dhoni realised that the time had come to turn to his premier spinner, Harbhajan Singh.

Bowling from around the wicket, Harbhajan pushed a quicker one through first up, and that angle across Akmal eventually proved to be his undoing.

The Pakistani batsman was stuck in the crease and looked to play an ungainly flick, which he completely missed, and the ball struck the top of off stump to send Harbhajan and Mohali to raptures.

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#4 Abdul Razzaq b Munaf Patel (Semifinal)

Munaf Patel bowled a dream leg-cutter to get rid of Abdul Razzaq

If Akmal's wicket sent Mohali to raptures, the next one, that of Abdul Razzaq, got it closer to bedlam at the PCA Stadium.

Razzaq never got going in that knock, despite the asking rate climbing. Neither he nor Misbah-ul-Haq decided it was time to press the accelerator.

As a result, both Munaf Patel and Ashish Nehra were getting through their overs with minimum damage, and Munaf eventually accounted for Razzaq as well, with what was an absolute beauty.

Munaf bowled a leg-cutter that pitched on middle and off stump. Razzaq played for the original line but the ball did just enough to beat him on the outside and clip the top of off stump.

It was a dream delivery from Munaf, in what was an almost perfect team bowling performance while defending a middling total.

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#5 Upul Tharanga c Virender Sehwag b Zaheer Khan (Final)

Tharanga never got going in the World Cup Final

This dismissal was iconic, not just for the ball that got Tharanga out, but for the 17 balls from this end that preceded it.

Eight years before this game in Mumbai, Zaheer Khan conceded 15 runs off the first over of the World Cup Final in Johannesburg, and that set the tone for Australia to bat India out of the contest.

In 2011, the leader of the Indian bowling was determined to not allow a repeat. In a stunning start to the final, he hit the deck, found movement both ways, and Tharanga was tentative from ball one.

Eventually, the pressure that Zaheer built paid off in the first ball of his fourth over. He had bowled 17 dot balls to Tharanga before that and just continued to probe in the corridor outside off-stump.

With the pressure telling, the Sri Lankan prodded at it to edge it in the gap between Dhoni and Sehwag at lone wide slip, but the catch was a piece of art in itself.

Sehwag dived full length to his left and got both hands to it and held on, as Zaheer roared, and Wankhede roared with him.

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#6 Shane Watson b Ravichandran Ashwin (Quarterfinal)

Shane Watson was castled by Ravichandran Ashwin

In the quarterfinal, Dhoni made the bold call of sticking with Ravichandran Ashwin as his new-ball bowler, after both Ashish Nehra and Sreesanth didn't really impress in the group stages.

Ashwin had only played one game in the tournament before that day in Ahmedabad, which was at his home ground in Chennai against the West Indies.

Ashwin, who was no stranger to bowling with the new ball for a team led by Dhoni, set the tone superbly against Australia, though. It was not easy for him, with two aggressive right-handers in Shane Watson and Brad Haddin opening the batting for Australia.

Ashwin bowled six overs on the trot in his opening spell with the fielding restrictions in place throughout that spell.

He set up Watson superbly through the course of the spell with an accumulation of dot balls. His variations in pace, trajectory, line and length ensured that Watson never felt settled against him, even though the Aussie did manage to get two boundaries in the 15 balls he faced off Ashwin.

But eventually, he only scored two more runs in the other 13 balls that Ashwin bowled to him, before perishing while trying to release the shackles with a big slog sweep that he completely missed, before hearing the death knell behind him.