MS Dhoni’s gamble, Misbah’s scoop, Sreesanth’s catch that defined India’s T20 history and a maiden world crown

Revisiting the night MS Dhoni gambled, Misbah-ul-Haq blinked and Sreesanth held on as India were crowned the inaugural T20 world champions

It was the dream final every principal stakeholder involved wished for but didn’t even whisper about, for fear of breaking the spell. For the International Cricket Council, it would serve as the perfect springboard for its newest product, the T20 World Cup. For the official broadcaster, it would translate to tens of thousands of dollars, making the cash ploughed into acquiring broadcasting rights money well spent. And for the Board of Control for Cricket in India, it was the ideal platform from which to espouse the cause of the newly formed Indian Premier League, officially launched during the World Cup.

India beat Pakistan in 2007 T20 World Cup final

We are talking India vs Pakistan, of course – the irresistible force versus the immovable object. Much like at the World Championship of Cricket in Australia in 1985, when the two Asian giants bucked favouritism and set up a title clash, here too in South Africa, they surged to the match that mattered as the more fancied sides – Australia, England, New Zealand and the host nation – fell by the wayside.

Pakistan reached the final with a six-wicket hammering of New Zealand in Cape Town and were joined in the summit faceoff a few hours later by their arch-rivals, who bested Australia by 15 runs in Durban, their base for much of the competition. Now, the Wanderers in Johannesburg and a date with history awaited Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Shoaib Malik, young captains thrown into the deep end.

The league contest between the teams ten days previously had ended in a dramatic tie settled by a ‘Bowl out’ that India won 3-0. There was little to separate them going into the final though on the eve of the contest, India suffered a massive blow with influential opener and senior statesman Virender Sehwag ruled out through injury.

India were compelled to hand a debut to Yusuf Pathan, who blazed to 15 off eight deliveries after Dhoni chose to bat, before being dismissed by Mohammad Asif, the pacer who had wrecked the Indians in the group clash with four for 18. This time, he didn’t enjoy the same success as Umar Gul brooked the most careful watching with his craft and guile with the older ball.

The resilient Gautam Gambhir kept up his end of the bargain and struck up a 63-run stand for the third wicket with a totally out of sorts Yuvraj Singh (14 off 19) as India found the middle stages hard to conquer. Gambhir, combative and feisty, thought little of using his feet even to the quicks or going over the off-side infield with regularity in making a fluent 75 but when he became the last of Gul’s three victims with two overs left, India had only reached 130 for five.

Rohit Sharma hadn’t been dismissed in two previous hits in the competition, with an even 50 against South Africa and 8 in the semifinals. He played another crucial hand, smacking two fours and a six in his 16-ball cameo that netted him an undefeated 30 which propelled India to 157 for five, just about par for the course despite the excellent form of the Indian bowling group.

As he had done for most of the tournament, left-arm swing exponent RP Singh delivered two crucial strikes in his first two overs, accounting for Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal, but Pakistan have earned the reputation of being mercurial with good reason and so they proved again. Imran Nazir, the other opener, hammered four fours and two sixes in racing away to 33 off just 14 deliveries when he foolishly ran himself out, and India tightened the screws by eating into the middle order though Irfan Pathan, who packed off skipper Malik and the explosive Shahid Afridi.

At 77 for six, Pakistan had a huge ask but they also had Misbah-ul-Haq, the man who had almost dragged them to victory in the earlier faceoff. Pockets of support came from Yasir Arafat and Sohail Tanvir as wickets seven and eight realised 61 runs; Arafat’s dismissal was a seminal moment because it stoked Misbah’s attacking instincts in sensational fashion.

Only 17 off 24 when Arafat was bowled by Pathan, Misbah switched gears in the 17th over, blasting three sixes off a hapless Harbhajan Singh to bring the target down to 35 off three overs. Tanvir feasted on S Sreesanth in the next over with two sixes, and though the bowler had the last laugh by yorking Tanvir off the last ball of his spell, Pakistan didn’t really mind because it kept Misbah on strike for the penultimate over with 20 to get.

RP Singh bowled a magnificent 19th, conceding only seven and getting the wicket of Gul to leave the match fascinatingly balanced at 145 for nine, going into the final over. Misbah knew he had to do it all on his own, with only Asif for company. Before the last over, Dhoni had a choice to make – did he go with Harbhajan, clearly short on confidence after being taken apart by Misbah, or did he take a punt on Joginder Sharma, the medium-pacer from Haryana.

One over, three moments that changed Indian cricket

Dhoni opted for Joginder, who trundled up and delivered a nervous big wide first ball, way outside the off-stump, to bring it down to 12 off six. After a play-and-miss, Misbah crashed a full toss back over the bowler’s head for six – six needed off four balls. Misbah was one hit away from emerging a national hero and was the odds-on favourite to win his battle with Joginder, so clean was his aerial hitting down the ground.

But for some reason best known to him, Misbah attempted a cute scoop with fine-leg inside the circle; it was an intriguing choice of shot, given how felicitous his straight hitting had been. All he managed was to hit it straight up in the air; a billion hearts were in their mouths until Sreesanth settled under the ball and held on to it for dear life. India were the inaugural T20 World Cup champions; the 20-over landscape would never be the same again.

Brief scores: India: 157/5 in 20 overs (Gautam Gambhir 75, Rohit Sharma 30 n.o.; Umar Gul 3-28) beat Pakistan: 152 all out in 19.3 overs (Imran Nazir 33, Misbah-ul-Haq 43; RP Singh 3-26, Joginder Sharma 2-20, Irfan Pathan 3-16). Player of the Final: Irfan Pathan (India).