INDIA is the Inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Champion 2007
By Editor on Sep 25, 2007 in Sports
Johannesburg: India’s southpaws produced sterling performances as they prevailed in a thrill-a-minute final of the ICC Twenty20 World Championship, and for a change Yuvraj Singh was not one of them.
Gautam Gambhir, Rudra Pratap Singh and Irfan Pathan came up with heroic efforts to help India score a last-over victory in the much- awaited clash between the arch rivals and also had the satisfaction of bowling out their opposition with three deliveries to go.
With Pakistan needing 13 off the last over to be bowled by Joginder Sharma and just one wicket in hand and prolific Misbah-ul-Haq on strike, it was anyone’s game. But Indian fans got the jitters when Joginder bowled an ugly wide and then got hit for a straight six by Misbah.
Suddenly, the equation was down to six from five balls. Joginder produced an important dot ball and then Misbah moved out towards the off stump but only ballooned the ball up and S Sreesanth made up for his poor bowling earlier in the day to take a well-judged catch at square leg.
India, who had lost the final of the 2003 World Cup to Australia at this same venue, scored a memorable victory much to the delight of the majority of the crowd that had been backing them.
The Indian players broke into an impromptu dance and took a victory lap with their national flag as the country got ready to celebrate the anticipated win. A fireworks display added to the excitement when the Indians were given the trophy.
A packed house waved national flags and shouted slogans like India jeetega and Pakistan zindabad as the two teams clashed in the final of a world level event for only the second time, the previous occasion being the Benson and Hedges World Championship in Australia in 1985.
India owed it to left-handed opener Gambhir, who steadied the Indian innings with a fine half-century.
RP Singh produced the early breakthroughs and other left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan broke the back of the Pakistan middle-order as their jinx against India in world level competitions continued.
Misbah was unlucky to have been able to take the team only so close to a win over India for the second successive time.
In their preliminary league match, Misbah was on strike when one was needed off the last two balls but he was run out on the last ball in the tied encounter that was decided in India’s favour in a ‘bowl out’.
Misbah’s 43 off 38 balls that was studded with four sixes proved inadequate as the other batsmen succumbed to a determined bowling attack that continued a fine run of defending totals in this tournament.
Pakistan had started positively with Imran Nazir robust in his approach, once hitting Sreesanth for 21 in an over including two sixes. But he was run out by a direct throw from Robin Uthappa as Pakistan fell to 52-3.
Later in the day, Irfan’s twin-blow that got rid of Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi, swayed the match in India’s favour, a clever slower one foxing Afridi as the compulsive stroke-maker heaved one to long-off without scoring. Pakistan fell to 77-6 in the 12 th over of the innings and it was always going to be difficult for them thereon.
Earlier, India could not go beyond 157-5 in the face of some tight bowling and a three-wicket haul by pace-man Umar Gul, who got rid of the big-hitting Yuvraj Singh, skipper Mahendra Dhoni and a well-set Gautam Gambhir to finish with 3-28.
But the two men everyone thought capable of giving an impetus to the Indian score failed on the big occasion, both falling to Gul in his two successive overs.
The slower pitch here was not to the liking of Yuvraj and the frustrated left-hander tried a mighty heave that only ended up being taken by the bowler himself. Gul then played an old trick on Dhoni as he unleashed a bouncer and then slipped in a yorker.
Gambhir, who played the anchor-sheet but still managed to show his penchant for cuts and pulls, compiled a 54-ball knock with eight fours and a pulled six each off Shahid Afridi and Gul before trying a pre-determined sweep and being caught at short fine-leg.
Rohit Sharma chipped in with a neat unbeaten 30 not out to ensure a fighting total for the Indians.
Earlier, Yusuf Pathan’s baptism by fire promised a lot as he smashed a six off Mohammad Asif off only the second ball he faced. He scored 15 off eight deliveries but was caught at mid-on by Malik off the same bowler. Yusuf, playing his first match for India in any form of the game, came in for the injured Virender Sehwag.
Uthappa fell early, leaving theh left the left-handed pair of Gambhir and Yuvraj to play the middle overs, who completed a fifty partnership in just 40 balls.
Here are some shots from the finals:
The teams:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (WK, C), Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Joginder Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, S Sreesanth, RP Singh.
Pakistan: Shoaib Malik (C), Imran Nazir, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul Haq, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal (WK), Yasir Arafat, Sohail Tanveer, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif.
source: CricketNext
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