From Miandadesuqe to Gatting : A fan's memory of the 2007 T20 World Cup Final
More than sixty years since India & Pakistan got independence from Britain, the two countries went face to face in the final of the inaugural T20 Cricket World Cup. The stage for this battle was South Africa, the land from where a certain MK Gandhi had begun his quest to free an undivided India from the British rule.
I was in the 22nd year of my life and the actions of the Indian cricket team on the 22-yard strip were already an integral part of my life. With India in the finals of the World Cup, there was no way that I was going to miss the action, although it meant taking a half day from office which I managed on the pretext of some important personal work.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, India who were without their explosive opener Virender Sehwag (out due to a groin injury), managed to make only 157 in the 20 overs. But for Gautam Gambhir’s 75 and Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten 16-ball 30, India would not have been able to reach this total as well.
During the innings break, I remember telling my friend that India had never lost a World Cup game to Pakistan. But I knew that it was just my optimism that was doing the talking and a run chase at less than 8 runs per over in T20 format would not be difficult for the Pakistanis.
The chase, however, did not start well as they lost two early wickets. But Imran Nazir was batting in full flow at one end and was threatening to take the contest away from India single-handedly. His innings was cut short by a brilliant throw from Robin Uthappa which gave the Indians a chance to come back into the match. Soon Irfan Pathan chipped in with two wickets in an over including that of ‘Boom Boom’ Shahid Afridi. This ensured that not only had India come back into the contest but were now in the driver’s seat.
When the sixth Pakistani wicket fell at the score of 77, celebrations had already begun in India and I could hear fireworks in my neighborhood in Pune. Little did we know that Pakistan’s highest scorer in the tournament – Misbah-ul-Haq – had other plans. With some help from the tail-enders, he had got his team within 13 runs of the world title with one wicket in hand and an over to go.
Captain MS Dhoni chose Joginder Sharma over the experienced Harbhajan Singh (who had been hit for three sixes in his previous over) to bowl the final over. My immediate reaction to this was “Joginder who??” When Misbah hit Joginder for a six of the third ball the target was down to 6 runs of 4 balls.
It looked like Misbah was heading towards a Miandadesque finish. But instead he chose to join Mike Gatting (who was out playing a reverse sweep in the 1987 World Cup final) in the list of batsmen getting out playing audacious shots in World Cup finals.
With the fine-leg inside the inner circle, Misbah tried to scoop the ball over the fielder but ended up giving a simple catch to S Sreesanth and the World Cup to India. Pathan was named as the Man of the Match for his figures of 3-16 and Joginder became a household name.
Cricket had lived up to its tag of being a game of glorious uncertainties and the sport’s newest format had got a tremendous launching pad.
Relive the final over of that iconic match here.