Cricket's greatest comebacks - Sri Lanka vs. India: Only T20I, 2009 - The Pathan Power

Back from the dead: Sri Lanka’s Thillakeratne Dilshan (L) congratulates Irfan Pathan (C) and Yusuf Pathan (R) after  they led India to a win in the only T20I at the R Premadasa in Colombo on February 10, 2009. (Getty Images)

Circa Feburary 2009. The Indian cricket team was in the process of wrapping up their tour of Sri Lanka with a final Twenty20 match at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Having taken the preceding ODI series 4-1, the then-T20 world champions were heavy favourites to win the last game of the tour.

But Sri Lanka did not make it easy for them.

First-time skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan won the toss and chose to bat. Opening the innings with the explosive Sanath Jayasuriya, the right-hander initially played second fiddle as the veteran left-hander smashed Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma all over the park.

After Irfan Pathan removed the rampaging Matara marauder, Dilshan took over, peppering the off-side with his uninhibited stroke-play and keeping the scoreboard ticking with fast running between the wickets. At one stage, 200 seemed well within his side’s reach.

But then came India’s slower bowlers: off-spinner Yusuf Pathan and debutant left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja. The ‘spin twins’ wove a web around the batsmen, with Yusuf in particular troubling the left-handed Jehan Mubarak; the batsman finally lost his nerve and offered a tame return catch to the elder Pathan.

Chamara Kapugedara gave brief support to his skipper with a nine-ball 16 before becoming Yusuf’s second victim. Dilshan accelerated hard towards the end, with Chamara Silva, also hitting a couple of lusty blows. Sri Lanka finished on 171/4, with the captain scoring his first half-century in T20 internationals, eventually falling for 61.

In reply, India lost Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir early. Southpaws Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh steadied the ship with a 67-run partnership, with both hitting sixes to step up the scoring rate.

But taking a leaf out of his counterpart’s book, Dilshan brought on the slower bowlers, and was rewarded with quick wickets. From a comfortable 81/2, India slumped to 115/7. Leg-spinner Malinga Bandara took three of the five wickets to fall, with Jayasuriya and Mubarak taking the other two.

It was a hopeless situation. India needed another 57 runs for victory, and Sri Lanka looked well and truly on top. Bandara was breathing fire, and there was every chance that the home side might finally secure another win after a nightmarish ODI series.

For all practical purposes – at least for the Indian fans – the match was dead and buried.

India desperately needed a hero. They found not one, but two.