India lifted the inaugural World T20 title in 2007. (Source: File)
On this day in 2007, India lifted the inaugural World T20 after beating arch-rivals Pakistan in the final in Johannesburg. India were placed in Group D alongside Pakistan and Scotland and their first match was abandoned.
Dhoni’s men then met Pakistan in Durban and grabbed a win in a nail-biting encounter. India after batting first scored 141/9 in 20 overs while restricted Pakistan to 141/7. The match then went into the bowl out stage where the Men in Blue hit the target on first three occasions consecutively while Pakistan missed them to give Dhoni’s troops their first win in the tournament and a place in Super 8s.
India were now placed in Group E in the Super 8s stage with New Zealand, South Africa and England. They lost the first match to the Kiwis by 10 runs but bounced in a terrific manner to beat England and South Africa respectively. Yuvraj Singh hammered Stuart Broad for six sixes in same over during India’s clash against England as India notched up a total of 218 runs in 20 overs and eventually won the match by 18 runs.
Dhoni’s side then rode on RP Singh’s four-for to beat South Africa by 37 runs and registered a place in semi-final where they met Australia in Durban. India after batting first compiled 188/5, courtesy a 30-ball 70 from Yuvraj and then restricted Australia to 173/7 to win the match by 15 runs.
India were now up against Pakistan for the title clash. MS won the toss and elected to bat first in Johannesburg. Gautam Gambhir and debutant Yusuf Pathan opened the innings for India and scored 25 runs for the first wicket before Pathan was undone by Mohammad Asif for 15. Wickets kept falling at regular intervals but Gambhir was steady at another end as he scored an important 75 to anchor his side to a total of 157/5 in allotted 20 overs.
In reply, Pakistan had a disappointing start and lost Hafeez early in the innings. The wickets kept tumbling regularly for Shoaib Malik’s side and they were reduced to 104/7 before Misbah-ul-Haq showed his master-class with the bat. He scored crucial runs for the side and took the game in the last over where they needed 13 runs with one wicket in hand.
Dhoni handed the ball to Joginder Sharma. The right-handed medium pace bowler started off with a wide and was later hit for a six on the second legitimate delivery of the over. They now needed six runs off four balls and Misbah tried to play a length delivery over short-fine leg but failed the attempt only to give a catch to Sreesanth stationed at the position. India won the inaugural World T20 by 5 runs.
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