India’s road to glory in ICC World T20 2007
India defeated Pakistan in World T20 final in 2007 to win the inaugural World cup. (Source: Express File)
The inaugural ICC World T20 took place in South Africa in 2007. India were on a verge of a rebuilding track after a disastrous exit from the ICC World Cup 2007 in West Indies. Surprisingly, MS Dhoni was handed over the rresponsibilityto lead the team in this tournament. Along with the likes of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh, the team looked well-equipped. India’s first match against Scotland was abandoned without a ball being thrown.
The second and crucial match that India played was against arch rivals Pakistan. India has a record of a hundred percent wins against Pakistan in World cups and they didn’t break this streak in the shortest format as well. In a breath-taking encounter which went into the bowl-out stage (which is now changed into super-over), India grabbed a win. Prior to this bowl out, Robin Uthappa’s fifty and later S. Sreesanth’s intelligent bowling along with Yuvraj Singh’s fielding efforts prevented Pakistan to chase a modest total of 142 runs.
After winning this match against Pakistan, India qualified for the super-eight stage. India were placed with New Zealand, South Africa and England here. They lost the first super-eight stage match to New Zealand by 10 runs despite a decent performance by the Indian batting line up while chasing 190 runs.
India then played their next match against England. This was one of the most important encounters as another loss would have shown The Men in Blue, exit gates from the World T20. Indian batting too didn’t take the match casually as they scored a mammoth 218 runs in allotted 20 overs. Yuvraj Singh smashed English bowler Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over. India clinched victory by 18 runs.
The last of the super-eight matches for India came against the hosts South Africa. A total of 153 runs set by Indian batsman was sufficient enough to register a semi-final berth. RP Singh emerged as the finest of the quicker Indian bowlers as he grabbed four wickets including the dismissals of Herschelle Gibbs, Graeme Smith, Shaun Pollock and Albie Morkel. India won the match by 37 runs.
India faced a ‘more favorites’ Australia in semi-final match. Electing to bat first after wining the toss, India went on to score 188 runs in 20 overs. Yuvraj SIngh came up with another fascinating batting display as he used 30 balls to score 70 runs. In reply, Mathew Hayden and Andrew Symonds built up a partnership to create fair bit of pressure on India before Sreesanth first wrapped up Mathew Hayden followed by Andrew Symonds. Eventually, India emerged as winners by 15 runs.
The spectators couldn’t have demanded for a better final of this World T20 2007. It was India against Pakistan in the finale. MS Dhoni chose to bat first and India scored 157 runs where Gautam Gambhir scored a half century in the process. Chasing this total Pakistan were left tottering at 77 for 6. Everybody thought that India would register a win in the final quite comfortably but Misbah-ul-Haq had other plans. The Pakistan batsman read the situation in the most sensible manner he could have and helped Pakistan to take the match in the final over where they required 13 runs off 6 balls. Harbhajan Singh was left with one over but instead Dhoni handed over the ball to Joginder Sharma. The first ball went for a wide, the next was a dot delivery and the third went for a six to reduce the asking rate. Pakistan were now left with a deficit of 6 runs off 4 balls. But a shot from Misbah shattered Pakistan’s chances to win the 2007 World T20. He hit this delivery straight into SreeSanth’s hands who was positioned at short fine leg. Pakistan were all-out for 152 runs.
India lifted the inaugural World T20 and MS Dhoni became the first skipper to achieve the feat. This triumph marked another achievement in India’s cricketing glory. India became the first team to win World cups in three different formats.
