A dream was realised exactly the same day 14 years ago. It panned out like a fairytale-run for the young boys led by a long-haired MS Dhoni as India defeated Pakistan in the final to become the first-ever world T20 champion.
India was already on the back foot after a poor showing in the 50-over World Cup same year. Senior players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, and Zaheer Khan pulled out of the inaugural T20 World event which paved the way for a new-look Indian team.
The onus was on MS Dhoni, the young Indian captain, and his team. Because of what had happened in the previous few months, expectations were undoubtedly low. He had nothing to lose and then everything on his first big assignment as captain.
Beginning of the journey
India’s first outing was cancelled due to rain. They were scheduled to play Scotland, where a win was almost guaranteed. The next match was against arch-rivals Pakistan, which India won in the first-ever bowl-out contest in international cricket. At that time the super over rule was not implemented in the format.
India, along with New Zealand, South Africa, and England, had progressed to the next stage. Despite a strong showing with the bat, India were defeated by the Blackcaps by 10 runs. After that, the men in blue needed a win desperately. The Indian team walked into the field firing at all cylinders against England, posting a massive total of 218, which included Yuvraj Singh's iconic six sixes after a ‘war of words’ with usual suspect Andrew Flintoff. India won that match by 18 runs and kept their World Cup aspirations alive.
India had turned the tables, but they still needed to beat South Africa by a fair margin to get to the semi-finals. Not only India defeat the Proteas but they prevented them from qualifying for the semi-final as well.
Taking on the mighty Aussies
It was almost customary to name Australia favourites in every tournament they participate. The situation was similar in the inaugural season of the shortest format of the game. Another trophy was expected to be added to Australia’s trophy set.
However, the Indian youngsters were high on confidence and did not let the ODI World Champions dictate the pace of the game. India posted a target of 189 as Yuvraj scored another half-century to help India reach the final of the contest.
The grand finale
An epic encounter of India-Pakistan was on the cards again and once again it went right down to the wire. The game was full of twists and turns as an epic thriller should be. Misbah-ul-Haq’s late carnage kept Indian fans nervous and on the edge of their seats.
However, Misbah made a horrible mistake which he would still look back at with utmost regret. He tried to play a scoop shot off Joginder Sharma who did not offer much pace to the ball. When Indian cricket fans are reminded of T20 World Cup final, the mind automatically players Ravi Shastri commentary’s in the head when he said, “In the air and Sreesanth takes it!” It looked like an easy catch but Dhoni revealed years later that it was the hardest catch for the fast bowler at the short fine leg considering the high stakes.
The Dhoni-led Indian team created history on the field but in the post-match presentation, the Ranchi-born cricketer declared to the world that Indian team should not be considered underdogs in any tournament into as he said, “Before I start I should say I read an article by you in Cricinfo. You’d said Australia were the favourites. Today I think me and the boys, we proved you wrong.”
