Raju Vegesna, while a big NBA and football fan, was no cricket fanatic.

That is until this World Cup.

Team India's memorable run to glory not only won the Chairman of Sify Technologies Limited over completely, but also egged him on into launching a bid for the ball that skipper MS Dhoni sent sailing over the fence to seal the famous triumph.

After reading about the World Cup memorabilia auction in a newspaper, Vegesna decided to win the ball, which he saw as a symbol of excellence that epitomised the success of the entire team.

"Bats, after all, are about individuals, are they not? So I had my eyes only on the ball," the successful entrepreneur explained.

His mind made up, Vegesna clinched his prize for $145100 (around Rs 64 lakhs).

"Team India taught us how to stand up to the CHALLENGE of global competition, COLLABORATE and CONQUER the world," he said after claiming the much-in-demand ball, which received over a 100 bids in all. "These are the 3Cs I believe in too."

Excerpts from an interview, where he shares his memories of the final and tells us why he did not think twice about placing such a huge bid.

Text: R Rajesh Kumar and Sankhya Krishnan