New Delhi, Dec 17: Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was so emotional after winning the World Cup early this year that he wept after the summit clash along with his teammates.
"After the final match was over, all the players cried. I also cried though there was no footage of that anywhere. It was very difficult to control emotions as we all were dreaming of winning the World Cup," Dhoni, who was on Friday named the CNN-IBN Sportsperson of the Year, said.
"I was crying and when I looked up, all the other players were forming a huddle around me. I ran to the dressing room and there I saw two players crying and running towards me," said Dhoni in a video recorded before leaving for Australia for India's Test series starting later this month.
Dhoni said it was great achievement for India to have won the World Cup as no host country has ever bagged the coveted trophy.
"It was a special achievement as no host country has ever won the World Cup before and we are winning it for the first time after 1983. Pressure was very high as all the Indian cricket fans want us to win the World Cup. And we knew that if the 15 players selected remained injury-free and played to our potential we would win the World Cup," he said.
Chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth praised Dhoni for his leadership skills.
"The biggest quality of Dhoni is that he remains positive and takes decisions on the field. Those are qualities of a great captain. The important thing is that he keeps things simple and not complicated," said Srikkanth, who announced Dhoni's name for the award.
"Every Indian will agree that winning the World Cup was the biggest thing to happen. The team deserved it," he said.
The other nominees of the award were cricketer Rahul Dravid, archer Deepika Kumari, shooter Ronjan Sodhi, boxer Vikas Krishan and the badminton duo of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa.
Sodhi and cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who has been suffering from a non-malignant tumour in his lung, were handed special achievement awards.
