Robin Uthappa recalls India's historic 2007 World T20 triumph, lauds Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Robin Uthappa lauded Mahendra Singh Dhoni for Team India's ICC World T20 2007 triumph. The Men In Blue beat arch-rivals Pakistan in an edge-of-the-seat thriller to win the inaugural edition of the T20 cricket's showpiece event.

'I have to give credit': Robin Uthappa 

“Before every practice, we used to play a game after warm-up, so what Venky (Venkatesh Prasad) did was instead of playing football, he said let’s play bowl out (batsman vs bowlers). Among the batsmen, Sehwag, Rohit, and me (Robin Uthappa) used to get a hit very often,” said Robbie while speaking on the Star Sports show 'Cricket Connected'.

“I have to give credit to MS Dhoni at that point of time. At a very young age in his first tournament and his first game as captain, a guy went up to him, his teammate went up to him saying, who is a non-bowler and is not his main skill, went up to him and said, ‘I have to bowl and I am going to hit the stumps,’ and I swear he (Dhoni) didn’t even bat an eyelid and said,” the veteran batsman added.

Dhoni & Co.rewrite history

Team India led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni comprised of a young unit after senior players Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Rahul Dravid had refused to play the shortest format. The Men In Blue had defied all the odds and made it to the finals by beating strong teams like England, the hosts South Africa and Ricky Ponting's mighty Australia and thereby setting up a dream finale against Pakistan at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.

India had earlier got the better of Pakistan in the group stages with a win in the bowl-outs after a nerve-wracking tie. In the summit clash, the Men In Blue had posted 157/5 in their 20 overs and had reduced their arch-rivals to 77/6. However, Misbah-ul Haq once again came to the rescue just like he had during the league match and took the Indian bowlers to the cleaners as the match went right down to the wire.

With 13 needed off the final over, MS Dhoni took a big risk of giving the ball to an inexperienced Joginder Sharma over Harbhajan Singh. On the very first delivery, Sharma had bowled a wide ball under pressure and not only did he have to bowl it once again but it had also reduced the Men In Green's deficit. He managed a dot ball in the following delivery. 

On the next delivery, he was dispatched into the stands by Misbah after having bowled a full toss outside off stump. India were snatching defeat from the jaws of victory as 6 runs were needed from 4 balls. Then came the moment which would go on to become immortal. The medium-pacer then bowled a full-length delivery and Misbah could have once again taken him to the cleaners but surprisingly, he played that infamous scoop-shot by going across the stumps and at one point, it seemed as if the ball would go past the boundary ropes after one bounce.

However, S Sreesanth covered a lot of distance and took an outstanding catch under pressure at fine-leg as the Indian players and the crowd erupted in joy. India went on to win the inaugural edition of the ICC World T20 by five runs. 

''In the air Sreesanth takes it. India win. Unbelievable scenes here at the bull-ring. Geoff Lawson can't believe it, the Pakistan players stunned and India would believe they have got out of a corner. Misbah-ul-Haq does not want to leave the field but what a match for a 20-20 final! India the world champions'', said Ravi Shastri on air. 

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