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7 Similarities between 2007 World T20 and 2016 World T20: India on the path to glory again?

Virat Kohli crashes to the ground after MS Dhoni hit the winning runs to ensure India’s qualification for semis

The sixth edition of the World T20 is being played in India at the moment, and I suppose it's common knowledge now that no team has ever won it twice. India, Pakistan, England, West Indies and Sri Lanka have won once each, in the five editions completed so far.

Among the teams which have qualified for the semifinal, only New Zealand have never won a World T20 before. The other three – India, West Indies and England – have one title to their name each.

When India lost their first game against New Zealand, they were on the verge of elimination. They came very close to that when Mushfiqur Rahim struck two fours off two balls from Hardik Pandya in the last over against India. However, due to MS Dhoni’s shrewd captaincy and sthe elf-belief of the Indian players coupled with some luck, India have reserved a berth in the final four once more.

The 2007 World T20 was won by India, and many analysts had declared them as the hot favourites to win again before the tournament began this year. However, following the loss against New Zealand, India’s chances of progressing to the semis were diminished.

But the Indian cricket team bounced back and their fans have termed the defeat against New Zealand a part of the plan to lift the trophy once more, since they started their World T20 2007 main round campaign with a loss to New Zealand too. Though the fans may have been overly optimistic and understandably so, a couple of weeks later, we have witnessed some more similarities in this T20 Cup and the inaugural edition.

Here we take a look at all those similarities starting, with that first defeat.

India lost to New Zealand

New Zealand
New Zealand players celebrate win against India

India started their Super-8 Round in 2007 with the match against New Zealand, which was the 13th game of that tournament. Interestingly, the 13th match of this tournament was also between New Zealand and India, and it was India’s first in the Super-10.

The Indian side was led by MS Dhoni in both games and the only other player to feature in both was Yuvraj Singh.

New Zealand batted first in that match too, putting up a mammoth total of 190-8 in their 20 overs. India in reply started aggressively with Virender Sehwag making 40 off just 17 balls, but he fell on the last ball of the powerplay with the score at 76.

Once Sehwag's opening partner Gautam Gambhir fell for 51, no one could make a handy enough contribution to take India to victory.

Overall, India fought well and lost the game by just 10 runs. It was not known at that time, but had India lost with a bigger difference, they may not have qualified for the next round due to poor Net Run-Rate. 

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