Published: Sep 14, 2022, 04:30 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 14, 2022, 04:30 PM (IST)
New Delhi: On this day, 15 years ago MS Dhoni-led Indian cricket team defeated Pakistan in an iconic ‘bowl out’ finish in their second match of the 2007 T20 World Cup. Team India was quite a young side with an inexperienced captain trying to pull off one of the biggest upsets in cricketing history.
The match between India and Pakistan ended in a draw and as there were no super overs back then, situations like these were sorted out with bowl out. India defeated Pakistan in the first three balls itself.
India managed to hit the stumps in the first three attempts and Pakistan missed their first three attempts resulting in a glorious victory for the Men in Blue.
Harbhajan Singh, Virendra Sehwag and Robin Uthappa were the heroes of this bowl-out after Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul and Yasir Arafat missed their shots. MS Dhoni then led Team India to win the inaugural T20 World Cup and went down in history as one of the greatest captains in cricket history.
Dhoni revealed his preparation plans for the bowl-out situation. He said, “We were aware of the bowl-out and prepared for it every day after warm-up.”
They were doing it for fun but it was clear that the player who gets the most hit would be bowling in the actual bowl-out.
He said, “We were clear that it doesn’t matter if you’re a bowler or not but the one who gets the most hit would bowl in the bowl out.”
This proved why Dhoni is one of the greatest minds in cricket because he was even prepared for a situation like this during the World Cup. On the contrary, the Pakistan cricket team and then skipper Shoaib Malik said they were not even aware of it.
