Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir, who played a crucial knock of 97 runs in the final of World Cup 2011 against Sri Lanka on April 2, 2011, regrets not being able to finish off the game for his team. He missed out on scoring a century by just three runs but doesn’t care much about it. Gambhir asserted that it was his responsibility to finish off the match alongside MS Dhoni, the then India captain who smashed 79-ball 91 as India clinched the 50-over World Cup after 28 years.

In an exclusive interview with Sports Today, the southpaw recalled the thoughts he had while walking back to the pavilion. India was in need of 52 more runs off as many balls when Gambhir was castled in the 42nd over. The thought of losing was still haunting Gautam Gambhir as he was very well aware that “funny things” have happened in cricket.

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Gautam Gambhir expressed, “I don’t regret those 3 runs, but I regret not finishing the game. That was my responsibility. You know funny things have happened in cricket, funny things will happen in cricket. When you are in, and that stage and that occasion, it was the World Cup final, it was my responsibility to finish off the game alongside MS Dhoni. That was the scariest thing that came into my mind.”

Gautam Gambhir’s gutsy 122-ball innings came after India lost their openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar before the completion of 7 overs. The southpaw stood tall and forged an 83-run stand with a young Virat Kohli before building another strong partnership of 109 runs with MS Dhoni. The two partnerships brought India’s 275-run chase back on track.

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After Gambhir’s departure, India lost no further wickets as Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni helped India win the match by 6 wickets with 10 balls to spare.