MS Dhoni picked Virender Sehwag for 2007 WT20 bowlout on my suggestion: Venkatesh Prasad

T20 World Cup 2007 was exciting for several reasons. It was beginning of a one-of-a-kind format which was going to become a massive hit in years to come. Cricketing fans were in for a treat as India was set to face arch-rivals Pakistan in ir first game of marque event. one had imagined that India's first match in tournament would end up in a bowl-out.

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India were invited to bat first and y ended up posting 141 on board. Pakistan couldn't chase modest total as y also scored 141 in ir 20 overs. With game tied, winners were going to be determined by a bowl out as concept of Super Over had t existed back n. bowl-out was similar to penalties in football as each team had a minimum of 5 chances to score as many points as possible.

Venkatesh Prasad says it was his decision to go with Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa and Harbhajan Singh in bowl-out

In bowl out, India went ahead with some unusual choices. MS Dhoni's men only opted for only one specialist bowler, Harbhajan Singh and went with two part-timers Virender Sehwag and Robin Uthappa. On or hand, Pakistan chose to go with Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi. However, Shoaib Malik's men failed to hit stumps even once as India won bowl out 3-0 and started ir T20 World Cup campaign on a high.

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Venkatesh Prasad, who was n bowling coach of India, recently recalled bowl out on Ravichandran Ashwin's YouTube show ‘DRS with Ash’. Venkatesh Prasad said that y had gone through rules and regulations of T20 World Cup. He added that back n if re was a tied game, re was Super Over back n but a bowl-out. He also revealed that y always used to practice it.

Prasad furr said that y had this competition between batsmen and bowlers. Most of batsmen wanted to bowl as well, like MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, and Robin Uthappa. He also said that y had a competition in  nets. Prasad reckoned that he was looking at what was happening from behind, so he knew which players was hitting wickets consistently. That’s when he saw Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa and Harbhajan Singh hitting stumps.

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Prasad opined that body expected that ir very first match will have a bowl-out. He furr said it was t hard for him to convince MS Dhoni to go with unusual choices. Prasad said that y did take a bit of chance re to go with Virender Sehwag and Robin Uthappa. Prasad said he had to back his instinct and make a decision. Prasad also revealed reason behind going with Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa and Harbhajan Singh saying that slower bowlers are more in control of ir bodies and delivery. 

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