This day, that year: MS Dhoni’s young team in India won the first T20 World Cup
14 years have passed since that evening on September 24, 2007, but until now, the moment when Mahendra Singh Dhoni lifted the T20 World Cup is as fresh as possible in the memory of cricket fans across the country.
In a match that swung both ways, Misbah-ul-Haq mistimed a scoop off Joginder Sharma’s bowling into Sreesanth’s hands and India became the first-ever world champions of the cricket’s shortest format on this day at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, South Africa.
With one wicket in hand, Pakistan needed six runs from four balls. Joginder Sharma was under immense pressure after giving away seven runs of the first two balls — a wide and a six over long-off. Misbah-ul-Haq was at the crease along with Mohammed Asif and all the players in the Pakistani dug-out were on their feet, waiting for Misbah to score the winning shot and celebrate what would have been one of their biggest wins at the international stage.
Joginder had a long chat with skipper MS Dhoni who came all the way down from the wicketkeeper’s end to soothe his bowler.
Joginder takes a deep breath, takes off from his run-up, and bowls a slower delivery outside the off stump. Misbah goes for the scoop shot over short fine-leg. The ball goes straight up in the air and S. Sreesanth takes the catch, a moment because of which his name got etched in the record books.
India won the inaugural ICC World T20 defeating arch-rivals Pakistan by five runs at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg in one of the most dramatic finals cricket fans can ever witness.
In the match against Pakistan, India won the toss and opted to bat first.
Virender Sehwag was ruled out of the match due to an injury and as a result, Yusuf Pathan and Gautam Gambhir came out to open the batting. Yusuf Pathan (15) hit one four and one six to let India get off to a flier, but he was sent back to the pavilion by Mohammad Asif in the third over. Robin Uthappa (8) was also sent back cheaply, and as a result, India was reduced to 40/2.
Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh then retrieved the innings for India as the duo put on 63 runs for the fourth wicket. The Men in Blue, however, kept on losing wickets at regular intervals after the departure of Yuvraj (14) in the 14th over. However, Gambhir managed to hold the fort for the Dhoni-led side and he went on to play a knock of 75 from just 54 balls with the help of eight fours and two sixes.
In the end, Rohit Sharma played a cameo of 30 runs off just 16 balls to take India’s total to 157/5. Defending 157, India came out all guns blazing as Pakistan was reduced to 77/6 with all their big guns like Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik sent back to the pavilion.
But, Misbah-ul-Haq did not give up hope and he started hammering Indian bowlers all around the park and brought the equation really close for Pakistan.
In the final over, Pakistan needed 13 to win and Dhoni opted for Joginder Sharma to bowl the six deliveries. Misbah hammered the second delivery of the over for a six, and India’s hope of winning the match looked glim. However, on the third delivery of the over, Misbah went for a scoop shot only to hand a simple catch to Sreesanth.
