A day after India’s historic World Cup triumph on April 2,  2011, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was spotted in a new look with his head clean shaven, during an official photo-op session in front of the iconic Gateway of India.

Most of the newspapers published from Jammu and Kashmir had  also given a prominent space to this news item. Some had carried it as a main lead. Kashmir Rechords is reproducing some of the news clippings published in Jammu-based newspapers on April 3 and April 4, 2011

To Keep `Mannat’

Speculation doing the rounds was that Dhoni had kept his ‘Mannat’ to shave his head if India wins the World Cup.

The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and for the first time in Bangladesh. India won the tournament, defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, thus becoming the first country to win the Cricket World Cup final on home soil.

Yuvraj Singh was declared the man of the tournament. This was the first time in Cricket World Cup history that two Asian teams had appeared in the final. It was also the first time since the 1992 World Cup that the final match did not feature Australia.

Fourteen national cricket teams had taken part in this tournament, including 10 full members and four associate members of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The opening ceremony was held on 17 February 2011 at Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka and the final on 2 April.

Pakistan was also initially scheduled to be a co-host, but after the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka National Cricket team in Lahore, the International Cricket Council (ICC) cancelled.  The headquarters of the organising committee, originally in Lahore, was transferred to Mumbai.