24th September, 2007: When World Cricket got the 1st T20 Champions

9 years ago on the day September 24, we got the 1st ever T20 World Champions at Johannesburg, South Africa. India lifted the cup beating their ancient rivals Pakistan in a magnificent final game.

 Journey of both the teams

Pakistan had lost only game in that tournament where they were defeated by India at group stage in the 1st ever bowl out of the international cricket history rather than that close game they won almost every game very convincingly with the all around performance of their players even in the semis against kiwis and on the other hand India had few ups and downs in their journey where they had to face some must win situations but they came back strongly and reached to the finals by defeating the tournament’s very strong opponent Australia in a neck to neck game of semi-final.

Dhoni lucky again

Finally the day arrived, both teams were all set to fire in the grand finale at wanderers jam packed stadium. Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the 1st phase of a huge game and after winning the toss he didn’t hesitate at all to elect the batting first on a pitch which was expected to support the batsmen.

 Pakistan didn’t do any change in their playing 11 and went with the same winning combination, India too wanted to do the same but Sehwag’s groin injury in last match forced them to do that one change in team and that’s how Yusuf Pathan got an opportunity to play his first International game on this big stage. He opened the innings for India and showed few glimpse of his power hitting with couple of big shots and got out on Asif’s short delivery but gave his team a flying start what the team was expecting from Sehwag, on the other end Gambhir was playing his hand very nicely by putting few short but useful partnerships but Uthappa, hero of the last both matches Yuvraj and skipper Dhoni respectively got out without making so much contribution to the scorecard and finally Umar Gul’s firing spell didn’t allow Gambhir to stay till the end. However, few good blasts at the end of the innings from Rohit and Irfan helped their team to reach to the respective total of 157 which was looking defendable, but seeing the pitch conditions it seemed like India was 20-30 runs short.

 Pak run chase

Pakistani openers reached to the ground to chase down the total, initially it looked like Pakistan’s game but the cracking spell of R.P. Singh where he took couple of early wickets with his swinging balls put them under pressure, Nazir took the charge on Indian bowlers and started playing aggressively even after loosing Hafeez and Kamran very cheaply and his blinder at the other end helped his team to reach to the 1st fifty just after 5 overs of the innings but then after Uthappa’s direct hit changed the whole scenario of the game and after the falling of Nazir, Pakistan lost one after another and they were six down on just 77 runs needing another 81 runs on 50 balls, suddenly it all started looking impossible for Pakistan but villain for India in group stage, Misbah again became a barrier in India’s world cup crown, he slowed the things down and was progressing the innings steadily, well supported by Arafat and Tanvir but then suddenly he shifted the gear in 17th over hitting 3 big sixes in Harbhajan’s over, Tanvir’s couple of sixes released some pressure from Misbah and the improbable became possible.
Excitement on its peak

Finally the nervous and exciting last moments were arrived, Pakistan were nine down needed 13 runs from the final over with Misbah on strike, Dhoni took the gamble by throwing the ball to an inexperienced Joginder Sharma and surprised everybody, especially when an over of experienced Harbhajan was left. Misbah hit a huge six over long off on the 2nd ball and when the victory looked in front of the eyes after the blow, Misbah miss judged it again as he did in the previous match against the same opponent at group stage and on the next ball he went for the scoop down to fine leg, it was comparatively slower one that’s why he couldn’t connect it cleanly and got caught at short fine leg by Shreesanth, which gave the privilige to India lifting the 1st ever T20 trophy.
Base of Indian victory
Architects of India’s triumph were Gautam Gambhir who played the innings of 75 runs off just 54 balls, who remained the 2nd highest scorer of the world cup and also the only batsman in the final match who crossed the fifty runs land mark, both the left arm bowlers RP Singh and man of the match Irfan Pathan who took three wickets each and yes, that last over by Joginder and a catch of Shreesanth can’t be ignored who held his nerves in those breath taking moments and took that simple looking but the most important one for his team.

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