“Dhoniii finishes off in style. A magnificent strike into the crowd! India lift the World Cup after 28 years!”

Ravi Shastri’s blaring narrative in the commentary box has turned out to be as iconic as Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s six off Nuwan Kulasekara in the 2011 final at the Wankhede Stadium.

Dhoni held his pose as he watched the ball sail into the stands even as Yuvraj Singh broke into a celebratory jig at the other end. While the captain’s 91 off 79 balls deserves much credit, not many have remembered Gautam Gambhir’s 97 at the top of the order after the early dismissals of Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar or Zaheer Khan’s opening spell.

Opening the attack, the fast bowler bowled three maiden overs at a stretch and finished his five-over first spell at the cost of only six runs besides a wicket. Had Zaheer not produced that superlative effort, Sri Lanka could have run away with the trophy.

Like Rohit Sharma’s men this year, Dhoni’s team too faced the weight of expectations and were burdened by the fear of failure. But Dhoni’s man management kept the team motivated through six weeks. Equally important were the contributions of the support staff — coach Gary Kirsten, mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton and Mike Horn, explorer and motivational speaker.

They slipped into mediocrity in the group league losing to South Africa before beating three former champions in a row (Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) in the knockouts to claim the title. They worked hard, played with passion and fought with determination right through.

When it comes to commitment, Rohit Sharma’s men can match the 2011 team, but it is the balance and experience which provided more depth to Dhoni’s men. The presence of more bowling options made them champions. Three among the top-six batters could also be menacing with the ball — while Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj had over 100 ODI wickets, Virender Sehwag had 96. It worked to Dhoni’s advantage as he used seven bowlers in the final, including an over from Kohli.

It is the scarcity of bowling options which prompted Rahul Dravid and Rohit to consider picking Axar Patel as back-up ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin or Yuzvendra Chahal in the provisional squad. Better sense prevailed only later.

This even led to a tongue-in-cheek remark from chief selector Ajit Agarkar during the squad announcement in Delhi. “Hopefully Rohit and Kohli can roll some arm over in the World Cup,” quipped the former all-rounder.

Rohit was more pragmatic. “When we talk about depth in batting, that No.9 and No.8 positions become very crucial,” the captain put it bluntly.

The fear of losing more wickets have often led the batters to curtail their natural instincts once the top-order gets dismissed early. It has resulted in a decline in strike-rate of the middle-order which has affected their win-loss ratio.

Teams like England, Australia and South Africa have at least seven players who can bowl in their playing XI. The scarcity of all-rounders has been felt for some time but there hasn’t been any radical switch to offset the shortcoming.

If India play an extra batter and field four specialist bowlers, their bowling will be thin, which they aren’t comfortable with. The age-old problem crops up when the top-order fails and the middle-order retreats into a shell exposing the lack of batting cushion in the lower order. The failure to unearth quality all-rounders always raises its ugly head before every World Cup.

“We had four years to develop all-rounders,” Anil Kumble lamented recently. Dravid and Rohit were given a free hand to devise their plans and decode their desired combinations. However, this has come with a double-edged sword: repeat the heroics of 2011 or face the consequences. Nothing less will work.