India tied with England in an enthralling group stage match, which set the tournament alight and lost to a South Africa team determined to exorcise the ghosts of past World Cups.
Dropping three points meant second place in Group B and a quarterfinal against defending champions Australia in a match described by Australian coach Tim Nielsen as a "mini-grand final".
Ricky Ponting at his grittiest scored a century but Yuvraj Singh, whose left-arm slow bowling proved an unexpected bonus throughout the tournament, responded with a match-winning innings of 57 not out as India passed their first trial by fire.
Then came the semi-final against Pakistan in Mohali, a match brimming with political and sporting tension between neighbors who have fought three wars since partition in 1947.
The prime ministers of both countries attended the first match between the teams in India since the 2008 militant attacks in Mumbai amid unprecedented security and intense excitement on either side of the border.
Pakistan, under Shahid Afridi's buccaneering leadership, had beaten Sri Lanka in the group stages and rediscovered the fighting qualities and discipline they showed in their 1992 World Cup win.
Their fielding let them down badly against India with Sachin Tendulkar getting a scarcely believable four lives, three of them off Afridi.
Afridi, whose waspish wrist-spin proved ideally suited to sub-continental pitches as the temperatures started to soar, would once have exploded.
The mature 2011 version shrugged his shoulders and consoled his disconsolate fielders, although he would have been aware that their lapses meant India were allowed to reach a total, which would prove to be too much of a challenge.
The Pakistan match was a great occasion but not a great match. The final between India and 1996 champions Sri Lanka in Mumbai on Saturday was both.
Tendulkar had raised expectations in his hometown to an unrealistic level with his centuries against England and South Africa, which perversely resulted in only one point for his team. He had batted superbly throughout the tournament and a billion Indians were willing him to get the century which would have completed 100 hundreds in international cricket.
His dismissal for 18 as India chased 275 to win thrust 33,000 people at the Wankhede Stadium into profound gloom after their potential match-winner Sehwag had departed second ball for no score.
But India were only just starting. Gautam Gambhir showed the steel in the national side with 97 and Dhoni, who had promoted himself above Man-of-the-Tournament Yuvraj, belied his previous indifferent form with 91 not out.
The result was the highest run chase to win the tournament and a first World Cup victory by a team on home soil in 10 attempts.
"The pressure you go through is a lot, we felt it throughout the tournament," said Dhoni. "You ask the players, they were not eating well because of anxiety. Not pressure but anxiety. There would be food in front of you but you wouldn't feel like eating it.
"The extra responsibility that each and everybody has was enormous. This is what we wanted to achieve."
Sri Lanka were worthy opponents and captain Kumar Sangakkara was generous in his praise of the winning team. Muttiah Muralitharan, the other truly great player in the tournament alongside Tendulkar, pushed his battered body to the limit but was unable to influence the result in his final international match.
The tournament proved one-day cricket remains in robust health and confirmed India is its spiritual home. Predictions that the competition would feature mind-numbing run feasts proved incorrect with only five scores of 300 or more between test-planning nations.
Wickets were evenly shared between the pace bowlers and the spinners and, after making allowances for inevitable slumps in form, the best players prospered.
Some things did not change.
South Africa, brimming with confidence after fielding three accomplished spinners to supplement their fast bowlers, yet again succumbed to pressure and were knocked out at in the quarterfinals.
They were defeated by New Zealand, a country of four million people who advanced to the semi-finals for the sixth time where they were the only non-Asian country. New Zealand pushed Sri Lanka hard before losing honorably to a superior team.
The two best teams played in the final and the best team won after a consistently entertaining tournament. For any organizer of any sport, this is all that can be reasonably asked of a global event. Not only Mumbai had something to celebrate on Saturday night.
