OTD| India became first-ever T20 champions with a win in the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007

It was a bit humid afternoon at the Kingsmead in Durban on this day, September 24, 16 years back in the year 2007. The stage was all set for one of the historic finals of a multinational tournament in the history of cricket. The arch-rivals India and Pakistan locked horns with each other in the summit clash of the T20 World Cup 2007. 

Notably, it was also the inaugural edition of the World Cup in the shortest format of the game. Team India, a bunch of young boys led by then-young wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni, included only a few experienced players Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, and Irfan Pathan. 

Speaking of that iconic and historic final, the Indian skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first. India sent the opening pair of Yusuf Pathan and Gautam Gambhir as the senior opener Virender Sehwag couldn’t make it to the playing XI due to an injury. 

India lost their first two wickets on the score of 40 overs in 5.4 overs. But the star Southpaw and opener, Gautam Gambir held the one end strongly and he played a remarkable knock of 75 runs off just 54 balls, with 8 fours and 2 sixes with the bat. Other than Gambhir, it was then-young middle order batter Rohit Sharma, who contributed with 30 runs off just 16 balls with 2 fours and a six. On the back of these knocks, India managed to post a total of 157 runs for the loss 5 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

Joginder Sharma’s last over finished things India’s favor to become T20 World Champion

While chasing the target, Pakistan had a shaky start as they lost opener Mohammad Hafeez on the team’s score of only 2 runs in the first over. After giving the first blow to Pakistan, star Indian pacer RP Singh gave them a second attack when he claimed the wicket of wicketkeeper-batter Kamran Akmal on 26 runs. Imran Nazir was looking very dangerous as he scored 33 runs off just 14 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes before Uthappa’s direct hit ended his knock.

During the last over, Pakistan required 13 runs as Misbah-ul-Haq smashed a lot of runs off Harbhajan Singh in the 18th over. Captain Dhoni asked Joginder Sharma to bowl the last over; Pakistan had lost 9 wickets on the score of 144 runs in 19 overs. 

Misbah smashed a brilliant six off Joginder Sharma at the beginning of the last over but unfortunately, he happened to play a scoop shot which landed in S Sreesanth’s hands. 

Eventually, India won the match by a close margin of 5 runs and became the first-ever T20 World Cup Champions. Star pacer Irfan Pathan won the ‘Player of the Match award for his match-defining performance as he scalped 3 wickets at the cost of just 16 runs in 4 overs.