Where are India's 2011 World Cup winners?

8 years. That's the amount of time elapsed since India's memorable title triumph at the 2011 World Cup. Another World Cup, 3 World T20s and 2 Champions Trophies later, the Men in Blue again find themselves at the cusp of history. With India's 1st match of the upcoming 2019 World Cup slated to be held on June 5 against South Africa, Virat Kohli and his men are looking for a repeat of the fateful 6 weeks from 8 years ago in order to lift the trophy in the final on July 14.

The Indian team has undergone quite a transformation in these 8 years. Arguably their greatest ODI cricketer ever, Sachin Tendulkar, and several others have bid goodbye to the game while then captain MS Dhoni no longer remains at the helm.

Here we take a look at how each of India's 15-member squad from the 2011 World Cup has fared since:

Sachin Tendulkar
After finally living his long-cherished dream of lifting the World Cup, Tendulkar continued playing international cricket till November 2013 before hanging his boots as the highest run-scorer in Tests and ODIs. Since then, he has served in various capacities including being a part of the BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee along with mentoring the IPL side Mumbai Indians. Sachin has also opened a cricket academy to help budding cricketers realize their dreams.

Virender Sehwag
The swashbuckling opener's stay in the Indian team didn't last long post the World Cup with the rise of youngsters Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. After announcing his retirement on his 37th birthday, Sehwag has donned multiple hats including being part of commentary teams, serving as a cricket expert for various media outlets besides serving as the mentor of Kings XI Punjab in the IPL.

Gautam Gambhir
Akin to his close friend Sehwag, the left-hander who played key roles in India's twin World Cup triumphs, was sidelined from the Indian team after a decline in batting form. Gambhir, however, continued to play domestic cricket in the meantime winning 2 IPL trophies with Kolkata Knight Riders. He was called up to the Indian Test squad for a final time in 2016 but failed to impress the selectors since then. Finally, with a heavy heart, Gambhir bid adieu to the game in late 2018 before deciding to fight the Indian general elections.

Yuvraj Singh
The Man of the tournament faced his life's most stern test soon afterward when he underwent a two-and-a-half month treatment for cancer in USA. On his return, though Yuvraj showed signs of his old self while batting, his performances weren't consistent enough to warrant a place in the side. Yuvraj still plays domestic cricket along with the IPL where he recently finished as the title-winner with the Mumbai Indians.

Virat Kohli
Kohli hit just a lone century during the 2011 World Cup. Since then he has hit 36 more! In the intervening period, however, Kohli endured a few heartbreaks - failure to win a single IPL, loss to Australia in the 2015 World Cup semis and loss to Pakistan in the 2017 Champions Trophy final. As he leads India on the biggest stage of them all, as the best batsman of them all, Kohli would be aiming to add that elusive trophy to his cabinet as a means to end all doubts regarding his leadership skills.

MS Dhoni
Captain Cool is not the captain any more but remains a vital cog in India's plans in England. He retired from Tests during India's tour to Australia in 2013-14. Since he hit that winning six at the Wankhede 8 years ago, Dhoni has emerged as the senior statesman of the Men in Blue. Even though he is not quite the same power-hitter he was in his heyday, his fitness and exceptional skills behind the stumps have meant that Dhoni will play his 4th World Cup on the trot. However, at 37 years of age, it remains to be seen whether he continues playing after the tournament and for how long.

R Ashwin
Ashwin only played a couple of matches at the 2011 World Cup but soon rose as India's No.1 spinner across formats. Come the 2017 Champions Trophy and Ashwin's poor returns prompted a sea change in the Indian team's thinking as they jettisoned the finger-spinner for the in-demand wrist-spin of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. Since then, though Ashwin continues to be a regular feature in the Test format, confidence in his white-ball form has dived so low that he wasn't even selected in the upcoming World Cup squad. On his part, Ashwin keeps coming up with different bowling variations - especially during the IPL - in order to sieze a berth in the Indian ODI side.

Harbhajan Singh
Bhajji was a force to reckon with during the 2011 World Cup with his floating off-spin to go along with his never-say-die attitude. Expected to lead the spin attack after Anil Kumble's retirement, Harbhajan failed to live up to the expectations with taking few and fewer wickets with each passing game. The simultaneous rise of Ashwin, Kuldeep, Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja didn't help Singh's case who now seems to be content with producing impressive IPL performances. He now has 4 IPL winners medals to show for it!

Zaheer Khan
After ending as the joint highest wicket-taker in the tournament, Zaheer was laid down by a hamstring injury that forced him out of the side. On his return at 35 years of age, Zaheer looked down on pace but still went on to pick up a 5-for in his last Test. In the IPL, he continued to outfox batsmen with his guile while leading the Delhi Capitals (formerly Delhi Daredevils) during the 2016-17 editions. Though Zaheer quit the league as a player, he joined MI as their Director of Cricket Operations.

Ashish Nehra
Life as an injury-prone international fast bowler proved too tough to handle for Nehra as he missed out on a number of matches after the World Cup triumph. But the Delhi pacer returned to the T20I side on the back of some impressive performances in the IPL for CSK, going on to help India win first limited-overs trophy Down Under. After quitting the game almost 2 years ago, Nehra currently works as a bowling coach with Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Suresh Raina
Raina's weaknesses against the short ball meant that he wasn't going to be a consistent feature in the Indian side for long even though he kept churning up the numbers at CSK in the IPL. Though he was called into the national side a few times - as late as July 2018 in England - his domestic returns often failed to match his international runs. With the Indian middle-order buzzing with the likes of Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya and new recruit Vijay Shankar, it seems like last year's Bristol T20I could be his last appearance in an India shirt.

S Sreesanth
The 2011 World Cup final turned out to be Sreesanth's last ODI for India as he was one of three IPL players banned for life in the spot-fixing scandal in 2013. The eventual lifting of his ban by the Supreme Court in March 2019 didn't help the 36-year-old's cause, who by now had desperately tried his hands at professional acting, dancing and even reality TV.

Munaf Patel
One of the unsung heroes of India's triumph in 2011, Munaf Patel soon fell out of favour of the selectors, having last played for India in an ODI against England in September 2011. He did continue playing domestic cricket and the IPL till 2017 before announcing his retirement in November 2018. "There is no regret; after all the cricketers I played with have retired. Only Dhoni is left!" he said post retirement.

Piyush Chawla
The KKR spinner has not played an ODI for India since the 2011 World Cup but remains a constant in the IPL where he is one of the all-time leading wicket-takers. In conjunction with Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav, Chawla has formed an intimidating spin trio at KKR, winning a number of matches for the side.

Yusuf Pathan
Like Chawla, Pathan's international career took a nosedive soon after the World Cup as sporadic performances with the bat while not being the most agile in the field, failed to earn him a regular place in the side. Even at the IPL where he has been a constant at KKR for 7 years before moving to Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2018, Pathan has not lived up to his billing of being one of the fiercest strikers of the cricket ball.