On Tuesday (24th September), the whole country along with the Indian national cricket team is celebrating the 12th anniversary of India’s victory the inaugural ICC World T20 (2007). On this occasion, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) posted India’s winning moment video on their official social media accounts.
Just around six months before that final, India and Pakistan both had faced disastrous time. In the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 in West Indies, both India and Pakistan had been shockingly eliminated from their respective Group Stages.
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But, they finished as the top two teams in the inaugural edition of ICC World T20. Both teams played impressive cricket in this shortest format. Before that final, Pakistan didn’t lose any matches directly in that tournament. Though India beat them in the Group Stage match, it had a tie result initially and a bowl out decided the winner.
Meanwhile, India suffered only one defeat before that final as New Zealand beat them by 10 runs at the Super Eight stage. However, they performed incredibly in all other matches of that tournament.
Gautam Gambhir guided the Indian team to 157/5 (20 overs)
On the final day, Indian captain MS Dhoni decided to bat first after winning the toss. Due to the fitness issue, the aggressive Indian opener Virender Sehwag missed out that crucial final game. Yusuf Pathan made his international debut on that final after entering in the playing XI as a replacement of Sehwag.
Indian batsmen struggled in the first innings and they managed to score 157/5 in 20 overs. The opener Gautam Gambhir played the most crucial knock in that match as he scored 75 runs off 54 balls. The left-handed batsman hit eight fours and two sixes in that innings.
Rohit Sharma, the middle-order batsman, was the only other Indian batsman to reach the 20-run mark. The right-handed batsman was not out on 30 runs off 16 balls.
Among the Pakistan bowlers, the right-arm pacer Umar Gul was best as he had the bowling figures of 4-0-28-3.
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India won by 5 runs
In reply, Pakistan were once struggling on 104/7 in 15.4 overs. While the Indians were getting the smell of easy victory, Pakistan batsman Misbah-ul-Haq performed brilliantly. In addition, Sohail Tanvir‘s little storm (12 runs off 4 balls) brought Pakistan back into that final.
In the final over, Pakistan had to score 13 more runs to win that game, and they had only one wicket in hand. Surprisingly, the Indian captain MS Dhoni gave the ball to Joginder Sharma in that final over. On the second legitimate delivery of that over, Misbah hit a sixer and took the game closer. In the next ball, Misbah went for the scoop shot but failed to time properly. S Sreesanth was standing at the short fine leg and he made no mistake to grab that ball. That wicket secured India’s one of memorable victories as India won that final by 5 runs.
Misbah was the highest run-scorer in that innings as he scored 43 runs off 38 balls (4 sixes). Among the Indian bowlers, the left-arm pacers Irfan Pathan (3/16) and RP Singh (3/26) both bagged three wickets. For his incredible bowling performance, Irfan Pathan won the Player of the Match award.
The BCCI shared that incredible winning moment on their official social media accounts.
This day, in 2⃣0⃣0⃣7⃣#TeamIndia were crowned World T20 Champions ??? pic.twitter.com/o7gUrTF8XN
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 24, 2019