As Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni lifted the World Cup in Mumbai on April 2nd, it was a matter of proud moment for the millions of Indians and also an unforgettable moment for the players who played the match. The moment seemed to have ended the 28 year drought of World Cup championship of a cricket mad nation.
But the most astonishing fact is that the World Cup 2011 trophy which Indian players were kissing and hugging with tears of joy was nothing was a fake one. Many media reports are claiming that the trophy was a replica of the original one. Many players have also considered it to be a shame as it has never happened in the history of World Cup cricket.
Interestingly, a day before the final Indian captain Dhoni and Sri Lankan counterpart Sangakkara touched the same replica and none of the teammates were aware of that. Now the question is where the real trophy has gone.
The real World Cup trophy is lying in a dirty government godown in Mumbai as members of the Mumbai customs team have seized the trophy on its arrival from Colombo after the Sri Lanka- New Zealand semi-final match held there.
As per the strict Government customs rules, the ICC World Cup trophy is not free from customs duty and hence the customs officials have seized the trophy from the airport as soon as it arrived from Colombo. The World Cup trophy is all set to go back to the ICC headquarters in Dubai on Monday. The original value of the trophy is calculated to be $130,000.
Neither the senior Government officials nor the ICC executives did bother to get the original trophy released from the airport godowns. Some of the players have also reported to express their anger at the developments.
The ICC officials are claiming that this story is baseless and they handed over the original trophy to the players.
