"That's it, all the way to the boundary for four!"

On this day in 1996, Arjuna Ranatunga's Late Cut guided both the ball to the third man boundary and Sri Lanka to their maiden ICC World Cup win, a fairytale for a nation struck by bombs and bankruptcy.

One point to note is that this World Cup is not a memory of the writer (who was born only a year later) but a mere observation of what can be seen today in online media, though the feeling of that exact moment can never be felt the same way. For those who witnessed this moment may recall the jubilation of every Sri Lankan regardless of race and religion.

The Decision to Chase

One of the most controversial topics was Arjuna Ranatunga wanting to chase the target after winning the toss. Many thought that the Sri Lankan captain made a grave mistake to have chosen to bowl first on what was said to be a batting pitch, although the end result was in favor of the chasers that day.

When speaking of the preparation of the team, it's even said that the Sri Lankan team was busy bargaining over carpets outside of the hotel, showing they weren't feeling the pressure. But it nearly got into them when Australia's captain Mark Taylor (74) and young Ricky Ponting (45) started to become a headache to the Sri Lankan bowlers with their partnership, and nearly proved the experts wrong on the decision at the toss.

In came Aravinda De Silva who dismissed both set batters, as finished with 3/42 while Australia were restricted to 241/7. While the other bowlers took at most a wicket each, the job was only half done by Aravinda, who led the bowling attack, had to walk in again at 5.2 overs when the scoreboard read only 23/2.

"We're going to play Australia in the Finals"

The fearlessness in his eyes despite the predicament of Sri Lanka was only a hint of what was to follow next. If there is a will, there is a way and that was the story of the Wills World Cup finals.

Asanka Gurusinghe who is one of the unsung heroes of the day, steered the ship with a rock solid 65 and as soon as he fell, the captain arrived. Arjuna Ranatunga showed no mercy with his words before the match or the bat, nearly took Shane Warne's ear with a boundary, and Aravinda who played a flawless innings in the semi finals, reached the magical three figure mark as his most memorable knock.

It's the best all round performance by anyone in a finals to date - 3 wickets, 2 catches and a century in the finals. But the job was still not done as Sri Lanka were inching closer towards their fairytale ending, as a broken and battered country who have been hit badly by terrorism and a plunging economy despite being one of the hosts nations.

And finally, the captain who challenged that he will meet Australia in the finals when they refused to travel to Sri Lanka for their group match, guided the ball towards the third man boundary, raised his bat and tucked a few wickets while the team ran towards the pitch in their historic win over the strong Australian side.

Upon the podium, this incident happened and Hashan Tillakaratne in tearful eyes recalled this moment in an interview, which the translation goes as "The players fell down from the podium as they were celebrating. Arjuna shouted Gura the cheque is missing, but Gura said forget the cheque, hang on that Cup!"