Reliving India's T20 World Cup Triumph

          After having one of the worst nightmares in the form of the 50-over World Cup in 2007, the Indian Cricket Team had a golden chance of silencing its critics 6 months later. The 9th edition of ICC World Cup was held in West Indies in March-April, 2007. Other teams in India's group were Bangladesh, Bermuda and Sri Lanka and there was no need for the fans to think twice whether India would reach the next stage ot not. But what happened next was totally unexpected and unbelievable. India made an early exit from the tournament as it could win just one match in the group stage and that too against Bermuda. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka handed over easy defeats to India. Fans were disappointed and at the same time, angry and the players faced harsh criticism. But no matter what, the emotional Indian fans would never stop supporting their team. And then came the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup which was hosted by South Africa in September. It was a young Indian side because the seniors, as they said, dropped themselves to give chance to new players.

          There were 3 teams in each group and this time India got its arch rival Pakistan, along with Scotland. India's first match against Scotland was abandoned due to rain. Then the world witnessed an epic match between India and Pakistan which will be remembered for a long time to come. Chasing a target of 141 set by India, Pakistan also ended up with the same score and the match had to be decided through bowl-out, which India won 3-0.

          India cleared the group stage to enter in the Super Eight where it had to face tough opponents like New Zealand, England and South Africa. In order to qualify for semi-finals, a team needed to register two wins from three matches and India lost its first Super Eight match to New Zealand. Now India had to win every match to progress in tournament. On 19th September, India faced England. This match can be tagged as the most entertaining match of all time. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir showed some quick scoring as they put up 136 runs for the opening stand. But the first name that comes to mind when this match is discussed was still to come, Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj not just scored the fastest fifty in an official T20 international, but became the 4th cricketer in all official forms of Cricket and the first in T20 to hit 6 sixes in an over. Stuart Broad was the bowler. A few exchanged words between Andrew Flintoff and Yuvraj were also seen just before the 36-run over started.  India (218-4) defeated England (200-6) by 18 runs. South Africa was the last team to play India in the Super Eight.

          The in-form team of South Africa was being seen as a threat to India's advancement in the tournament. But a comfortable 37-run win by India ensured its place in the semi finals. Posting a total of 153 runs batting first, India's Rohit Sharma, making his debut, top scored with an unbeaten 50 of 40 balls. RP Singh made sure that South African batsmen do not even reach near the target as he picked up 4 wickets for just 13 runs in his 4 overs.

India had entered the semi-finals and an exciting contest was lined up as it had Australia on the other end.  There was nervousness all around. Once again with the heroics of Yuvraj Singh, India posted a huge total of 188 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. With the help of 5 fours and 5 sixes, Yuvraj made 70 runs from just 30 balls. He also hit the longest six (119 m) of the tournament off Brett Lee's bowling. India had given a tough target to the Aussies, but they could not take a team lightly which had names like Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds. Australia required 189 runs to make it to the final. The pick of the Indian bowlers was S. Sreesanth who sent both the openers back to the pavillion in a similar fashion. He broke Gilchrist's stumps, who managed only 22 runs and later did the same to Hayden (62) who scored maximum for his team. Andrew Symonds then tried to put up a fight by scoring a quick 26 ball-43 runs but was removed by Irfan Pathan. The target was looking more and more out of reach for the Aussies. Indians had started celebrating and when 20 runs were needed off the last ball, Harbhajan Singh was seen doing bhangra on the boundary. India had won a spot in the final of the T20 World Cup as it sent Australia 

back home after winning by 15 runs.

          After some splendid performances in the tournament, India reached the final of the T20 World Cup. And there could not be anything better than facing Pakistan for the grand event. Pakistan have  not been able to beat India in an official World Cup match till date. It was 24th September, 2007 at the Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, the same ground where India lost the World Cup final to Australia in 2003.

          India won the toss and elected to bat first. Virender Sehwag's injury in the semi-final led to the inclusion of Yusuf Pathan, who was playing his debut match. Yusuf hit a huge six in the first over bowled by Mohammad Asif but could not put up a big score and was out for 15. It was Gautam Gambhir who stood up and decided to go after the Pakistan bowlers as he scored a helpful 75 runs off 54 balls. Other than him, Rohit Sharma added 30 runs from 16 balls. India could not set a huge total on a batsman-friendly pitch. They ended up scoring 157 runs for the loss of 5 wickets.

          Pakistan needed 158 runs from 120 balls to win the championship. Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Nazir were all set to start off the innings and for India, RP Singh had the new ball. On the 5th delivery, the ball took an outside edge of Hafeez's bat and went straight into the hands of Robin Uthappa who was waiting at the slip. Next over was given to Sreesanth who was hit for 21 runs by Imran Nazir. Pakistan were off to a good start with 25 runs on the scorecard in 2 overs. No. 3 batsman Kamran Akmal faced 4 deliveries and lost his off stump to RP Singh without scoring. Sreesanth came back strongly with a maiden over. Imran Nazir was on fire as he had hit 33 runs from just 14 balls before a sharp direct hit by Robin Uthappa in 6th over removed him. Joginder Sharma was the first change bowler for India and he struck in the 9th over. Younis Khan (24) who tried a huge shot could not connect well and ended up giving a simple catch to Yusuf Pathan. The two batsman in the middle were the Pakistan captain, Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq.

At the end of 11th over, Pakistan had put up 76 runs and lost 4 wickets. It was still anybody's match. But Irfan Pathan who bowled the 12th over, turned the game in India's favor by picking up 2 crucial wickets. First, he had Shoaib Malik caught on mid-wicket for just 8 and then sent the big hitter, Shahid Afridi back to the pavilion who faced just one ball. Misbah and Yasir Arafat tried to steady things for Pakistan but on the last ball of the 16th over, Irfan struck once again by shattering Arafat's stumps and completing an excellent spell.

Pakistan required 54 more from just 24 balls. Harbhajan Singh was given the 17th over to get his yorkers right but couldn't do much as Misbah went wild after him by hitting 3 huge sixes and keeping Pakistan's hopes alive. The next over bowled by Sreesanth saw 15 runs coming before he bowled Sohail Tanvir (12). 20 runs were needed from 12 balls for Pakistan and India were just 2 wickets away. RP Singh had to bowl a tight 19th over and he did. He gave India one more wicket as he ended the match for Umar Gul (0). The match was down to the last over in which Pakistan had to hit 13 more runs and India wanted just one wicket to win. The Indian captain, MS Dhoni had two options- either the experienced Harbhajan Singh or the new boy Joginder Sharma. And the new captain shocked everyone as he called up Joginder Sharma to bowl the final over. 

Joginder ran in to deliver the first ball and bowled a wide. Misbah missed the next one and then with 12 needed from 5, Joginder bowled a full-toss to which Misbah responded quickly and sent the ball into the stands with a huge hit. Pakistan were just one hit away and they had 4 more balls to do so. But what happened next was something which no one would have expected. Misbah tried to clear short fine-leg by shuffling across the off stump and playing a scoop shot, but all he could manage was giving his wicket away as Sreesanth took a simple catch under high pressure. 

India had won the Inaugural T20 World Cup. Celebrations and fireworks started as soon as the Indian players and fans realized what had happened. This was a hard fought victory for the Indian team which was not expected to win when the tournament commenced. Irfan Pathan was awarded the Man of the Match for his match-winning spell of 4 overs in which he conceded just 16 runs and picked up 3 crucial wickets. Shahid Afridi was declared the Man of the Series. And India had successfully found a new captain in Mahendra Singh Dhoni.