Sachin Tendulkar being lifted on the shoulders of his teammates after their World Cup triumph at home in 2011 was voted the Laureus best sporting moment in the last 20 years.
With the backing of Indian cricket fans, Tendulkar got the maximum number of votes to emerge winner on on Monday.
Tendulkar, competing in his sixth and last World Cup, finally realised his long-term dream when skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni smacked Sri Lankan pacer Nuwan Kulasekara out of the park for a winning six.
The charged-up Indian cricketers rushed to the ground and soon they lifted Tendulkar on their shoulders and made a lap of honour, a moment etched in the minds of the fans.
Former Australian skipper Steve Waugh handed the trophy to Tendulkar after tennis legend Bros Becker announced the winner at a glittering ceremony.
“It’s incredible. The feeling of winning the world cup was beyond what words can express. How many times you get an event happening where there are no mixed opinions. Very rarely the entire country celebrates,” Tendulkar said after receiving the trophy.
“And this is a reminder of how powerful a sport is and what magic it does to our lives. Even now when I watch that it has stayed with me.”
Sachin, who is regarded as one of the best batsmen to have played the game, had called the 2011 World Cup triumph as the best moment of his cricketing career. “That is what I lived for. That is what I started cricket for,” Sachin had said after India lifted the World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium.
Sachin played a staggering 200 Tests and 463 ODIs amassing 15921 runs and 18426 runs respectively in the two formats. He is the all-time leading run-getter in international cricket and also holds the record for most centuries (100) in international cricket. He retired in 2013 but no player has so far come close to breaking his record for most centuries in international cricket.
