ICC T20 World Cup: Most thrilling matches from first 5 editions; Part 1 of 2

Shiamak Unwalla lists out the 10 most thrilling matches from the tournament so far, in a two-part article. Here is part 1, from ICC World T20 2007 to ICC World T20 2009.

The ICC World T20 2016 is finally upon us. The tournament that launched T20 cricket to the world with the inaugural edition in 2007 has produced some phenomenal matches across the first five editions. Shiamak Unwalla lists out the 10 most thrilling matches from the tournament so far, in a two-part article. Here is part 1, from ICC World T20 2007 to ICC World T20 2009.

1.  Australia vs Zimbabwe, ICC World T20 2007, Match 4 at Cape Town: Australia are not known for their T20I skills, but in 2007 they were still considered favourites going into the tournament. They got a shock to their system early in the tournament though. Having won the toss against Zimbabwe they elected to bat first. Elton Chigumbura and Gary Brent bowled tremendous spells that reduced Australia to 19 for 3 and soon 48 for 4. Andrew Symonds and Brad Hodge got 30s that took Australia to 138 for 9.

Vusi Sibanda got Zimbabwe off to a great start, scoring 23 off 15 balls. His fellow opener Brendan Taylor ended up playing a match-winning innings to remain unbeaten on 60 off 45 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes. Zimbabwe needed 12 off the final over, and got it with a ball to spare.

Brief scores:

Australia 138 for 9 in 20 overs (Andrew Symonds 33, Brad Hodge 35*; Elton Chigumbura 3 for 20) lost to Zimbabwe 139 for 5 in 19.5 overs (Brendan Taylor 60*; Stuart Clark 2 for 22) by 5 wickets with 1 ball remaining.

2.  India vs Pakistan, ICC World T20 2007, Match 10 at Durban: Shoaib Malik won the toss and put India in to bat. Mohammad Asif continued to terrorise India by taking out Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, and Dinesh Karthik. India were 34 for 4 in the seventh over before Robin Uthappa (50) and MS Dhoni (33) stabilised the innings. Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar played a few big hits to take India’s total to 141 for 9.

In response Pakistan were comfortably placed at 44 for 1 in the eighth over before a mini-collapse made them fall to 47 for 4. Malik and a then-unheralded Misbah-ul-Haq stabilised proceedings with a 40-run stand before India managed to strike again. Shahid Afridi was unable to do much either, but Misbah continued to go strongly at the other end. Pakistan needed 29 off the last two overs with 4 wickets remaining.

Yasir Arafat and Misbah took Agarkar for 17 runs in the penultimate over, which left Pakistan needing 12 off the final over. S Sreesanth conceded 12 off his first 4 balls but ended up bowling two dot balls, with a run out coming off the last ball. The match was a tie, and India won the first and only bowl-out in T20 World Cup history by a 3-0 margin.

Brief scores:

India 141 for 9 in 20 overs (Robin Uthappa 50; Mohammad Asif 4 for 18) tied with Pakistan 141 for 7 in 20 overs (Misbah-ul-Haq 53; Irfan Pathan 2 for 20). India won bowl-out 3-0.

3.  India vs Pakistan, ICC World T20 2007 Final at Johannesburg: MS Dhoni won the toss and India batted first against Pakistan in the final. Virender Sehwag missed out with an injury, but his replacement Yusuf Pathan took on Asif early. Gautam Gambhir played a sensational innings to score 75 off 54 balls, while Rohit Sharma made a crucial 30 not out off 16 balls to take India’s total to 157 for 5.

In response Imran Nazir thrashed 33 off 14 balls but was run out by a tremendous throw from Uthappa. Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, and Shoaib Malik all faltered after that, while Afridi was out first ball. At 77 for 6 the match was in the bag for India. There was still Misbah to deal with though, and Pakistan were helped by a few big shots from Arafat and Sohail Tanvir. Pakistan needed 54 off 23 balls when Misbah turned it on against Harbhajan Singh, hitting the off-spinner for three sixes in the over. Tanvir then hit Sreesanth for two sixes in the next over. With 20 needed off the last two overs, RP Singh took a wicket and conceded 7.

Against everyone’s expectations, the final over was given to Joginder Sharma, with Pakistan needing 13 runs with 1 wicket in hand. The first ball was a big wide; 12 off 6. Then came a dot ball outside off; 12 off 5. The next ball was a full toss that Misbah dispatched for a massive six over the bowler’s head; 6 needed off 4. Inexplicably, against all sense, Misbah chose to play a scoop off the next ball. He could only get it as far as short fine leg, where Sreesanth accepted the catch gleefully. India won by 5 runs and the era of MS Dhoni began.

Brief scores:

India 157 for 5 in 20 overs (Gautam Gambhir 75; Umar Gul 3 for 28) beat Pakistan 152 in 19.3 overs (Misbah-ul-Haq 43; Irfan Pathan 3 for 16) by 5 runs.

4.  England vs Netherlands, ICC World T20 2009, Match 1 at Lord’s: It was the tournament opener, played between hosts England and Netherlands. Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright hammered 102 for the opening wicket but the rest of the England batting failed to get going. Still, a total of 162 for 5 seemed enough.

In response, Netherlands were struggling at 66 for 3 before Tom de Grooth (49) and Peter Borren (30) stabilised proceedings while Ryan ten Doeschate (22*) finished the match. The equation came down to 7 needed off the final over. England could have taken two wickets off the second and third balls, but fluffed run out chance and a dropped catch allowed 2 runs instead. With 2 runs needed off the final ball, Stuart Broad first misfielded and then overthrew to gift Netherlands a win off the last ball.

Brief scores:

England 162 for 5 in 20 overs (Luke Wright 71; Ryan ten Doeschate 2 for 35) lost to Netherlands 163 for 6 in 20 overs (Tom de Grooth 49; James Anderson 3 for 23) by 4 wickets with 0 balls remaining.

5.  New Zealand vs South Africa, ICC World T20 2009, Match 10 at Lord’s: Brendon McCullum won the toss and put South Africa in. Graeme Smith was the top-scorer with 33, but scored his runs off 35 balls. Only Jacques Kallis (24) and JP Duminy (29) scored more than 20 as the Proteas could only score 128 for 7. Ian Butler was the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 13 in 4 overs.

In response McCullum scored 57 off 54 balls, while Ross Taylor made 22 off 31. Jacob Oram scored 24 off 18 balls as well, but with 15 needed off the final over Wayne Parnell kept it down to 13 and South Africa won by 1 run.

Brief scores:

South Africa 128 for 7 in 20 overs (Graeme Smith 33; Ian Butler 2 for 13) beat New Zealand 127 for 5 in 20 overs (Brendon McCullum 57; Roelof van der Merwe 2 for 14) by 1 run.

(Shiamak Unwalla is a proud Whovian and all-round geek who also dabbles in cricket writing as a reporter with CricketCountry. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)