2 . Courage when needed the most
Bowling Joginder Sharma in the last over of ICC World T20 final in 2007
Dhoni’s brilliant captaincy had already taken India to the final of the inaugural ICC T20 in 2007. Dhoni’s men had already exceeded expectations. But the final was against arch rivals mPakistan, a match you would never want to lose even in your dream.
After a dramatic encounter of unpredictable thrills, it all came down to the final over with Pakistan requiring only 13 runs for victory. Pakistan suffered middle order collapse and looked to be out of the contention much earlier but for the solitary heroics of Misbah-ul-Haq their hopes were still alive.
Everybody expected that Dhoni would go to his senior bowler Harbhajan Singh for the last over but he surprised everyone by calling in Joginder Sharma to bowl. Harbhajan had leaked too many runs and Misbah was dispatching the spinners quite easily which might have prompted Dhoni’s decision.
Joginder Sharma later said that Dhoni had told him he would shoulder all the responsibilities if they lost the match. Misbah hit him for a huge six off a full-toss and feeling confident, got a bit over-confident trying to scoop his next delivery over short fine leg. But he got out caught and Dhoni’s men pulled off a historic victory.