Published: Mar 07, 2016, 04:24 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 07, 2016, 04:49 PM (IST)
Joginder Singh Sharma, India’s 32-year-old medium-fast bowling all-rounder, who featured in ICC World T20 2007 spoke in a television programme ‘Salaam Cricket’ which is being aired on Aaj Tak. He said he had expected that captain MS Dhoni would ask him to bowl the final over of the match. He said the first ball he bowled in the over was a wide but the swing that it generated gave him confidence and said that owing to it he felt that he had the ability to get the batsman out. The ball had swung pretty well. He said that Dhoni had faith in him for bowling the last over. ICC World T20 2007 final between arch-rivals India and Pakistan was a thrilling encounter which went down to the wire. LIVE UPDATE: Aaj Tak’s ‘Salaam Cricket’ event
After the first wide, Pakistan required 12 runs to win with only one wicket remaining. Joginder bowled a dot but was then hit for a six by Misbah-ul-Haq. The batsman attempted a scoop the next ball but it went straight into the hands of Shanthakumaran Sreesanth. India won by five runs. Joginder said, “I was expecting Dhoni to give me the last over of WT20 2007 final. First ball was wide, but the ball swung and I was happy with it. I thought I would clean up the batsman since the ball had shown signs of swing. Dhoni had confidence in me as far as final over was concerned.” He added that he missed the gentleman’s game for around 18 months after the mega event, “I missed cricket for 1.5 years after WT20 2007. But have been unlucky, there was a road accident as well.” Virender Sehwag: Pakistan will never be able to beat India in ICC Cricket World Cups
Joginder said that before the match, Dhoni had asked the team to give their best effort, “Dhoni asked us to give 100%, to enjoy the game. I knew Pakistan will take pressure 10 times more than India in WT20 2007 final. History of winning vs Pakistan was with India and it will remain with us. RP Singh’s regular wickets helped India. Indian team’s focus was on its strengths during World T20 2007. We concentrated on our game in World T20 2007. India did not concentrate much on others. Dhoni and our coach never pressed us on winning, they demanded we played good cricket. We had trust on our abilities. Dhoni’s qualities helped India in World T20 2007. We were asked to give our 100 %. That helped us in becoming world champions.”
