Published: Sep 24, 2015, 08:04 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 24, 2015, 08:04 PM (IST)
Eight years ago, MS Dhoni led a young Indian side to the inaugural ICC World T20 win. It was the final over of the match witnessed one of the most closely fought moments in cricketing history. Pakistan went into the last over needing 13 runs to win, with only one wicket remaining. Joginder Sharma bowled a wide first ball, followed by a dot ball. Misbah followed by taking six off a full-toss; Pakistan needed just 6 runs to win from the last four balls. Misbah attempted to hit the next ball with a paddle-scoop over fine leg, but he only managed to sky the ball, and it was caught at short fine-leg by Sreesanth, leaving Pakistan all out for 152 runs. Irfan Pathan was awarded the Man of the Match for his spell, which included 3 wickets for 16 runs, including that of Man of the Series, Shahid Afridi.
The tournament was a watershed moment for the sport, which was facing an uncertain future with dwindling fortunes against the back-drop of restless and impatient followers, who mostly hailed from the Indian subcontinent – cricket’s proverbial base. But the slam-bang version of cricket, an Olympic spot worthy event, arrived just in time to start a boom in the so called gentlemen’s game, shedding many a stereotypes, allowing many followers of modern world to once again watch it without time-constraints. In the run up to the finale, the tournament had already witnessed epic clashes and many individual exploits, like that of Yuvraj Singh’s six sixes off English bowler Stuart Broad, thus establishing this new event as the ultimate format to carry the game forward. And with India and Pakistan playing the final, the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup was the zenith of cricket’s success.
