New Delhi: Eighteen years ago on this day, India‘s win in the inaugural T20 World Cup on September 24, 2007, marked a tectonic shift in the course of cricket.
Not only it helped India take to the new 20-over format, it paved way for the creation of the money-spinner Indian Premier League and mushrooming of franchise-based T20 leagues all around the world.
India had played in only one T20 prior to the tournament held in South Africa as the Board of Control for Cricket in India were sceptical of the new format.
Their legendary trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly preferred to opt out and the BCCI rested Zaheer Khan, sending a young team to participate.
Though the team had Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, RP Singh and S Sreesanth, not much was expected from the team under MS Dhoni as the BCCI was keen to test waters in the non-traditional format.
Spirited campaign
Twelve teams were divided in four groups, with India beating arch-rivals Pakistan in the grpup stage via a bowl out to raise hopes and went on to defeat England and South Africa in the Super Eight stage.
They also conquered Australia in the semi-final to set up a mouthwatering final with Pakistan, who had beaten New Zealand in the last four stage following victories over Sri Lanka, Australia and Bangladesh in the Super Eights.
In the final, Gautam Gambhir’s 75 off 54 balls pulled India to a competitive 157/5 in their 20 overs, with Umar Gul’s 3 for 28 leading Pakistan’s fine bowling performance.
#OnThisDay (2007): India wins the inaugural World T20 by 5 runs over Pakistan in front of 32,217 fans in Johannesburg. pic.twitter.com/cCOS7RRlO8
— ICC (@ICC) September 24, 2017
Pakistan were reduced to 77/6 despite a swashbuckling 33 off 14 balls from opener Imran Nazir. Misbah-ul-Haq’s three sixes off Harbhajan Singh in the 17th over boosted their run chase.
With Pakistan requiring 13 off the last over, Dhoni summoned Joginder Sharma to bowl, which seemed a suicidal decision as he bowled a wide and then was dispatched over the fence by Misbah to bring down the target to 6 off 4 balls.
But in a brain-fade moment, Misbah’s infamous lap shot landed on the hands of Sreesanth at short fine leg to enabled India’s win infrot of 32,000 fans in Johannesburg and subsequently transform T20 cricket’s landscape not only in India but around the world.