India’s maiden T20 World Cup-winning team member S Sreesanth recalls the final against Pakistan in Johannesburg 14 years ago. In an exclusive chat with Sports Tak, Sreesanth said that he was “grateful Misbah played that shot” off the final ball and that be believed Pakistan does not stand a chance against India in the final.
The 38-year-old cricketer thanked the selectors and MS Dhoni for believing in him to be included in the T20I side. He revealed that ahead of the final against arch-rivals, the players in the dressing room were not anxious considering the team’s record in ICC tournaments.
“I will not really call them arch-rivals because they have never won against us at that point of time. They had never won a single match against us in the ICC tournaments. We knew if we had beaten Australia, the World Champions then Pakistan does not stand a chance. Even though they had little hope in the last couple of overs, we believed that we will win,”
The Kerala speedster revealed that they used Pakistan’s presence in the finals as motivation to defeat Australia in semi-final.
“The moment we knew that Pakistan is in the finals, that was the motivation in defeating Australia... In finals we were very focused and not nervous. People said that we should be calm under pressure and that is what we did, especially Irfan (Pathan) and Gautam Gambhir,” he recalled.
When asked about whether Dhoni’s decision to give the last over to Joginder Sharma surprised him or not, he said that he had belief in the captain’s decision.
“Joginder used to play for ONGC and Dhoni used to play for Indian airlines. I have seen lot of matches where Jogi bhai has won the matches with his bowling as well as batting. Dhoni bhai knew how good he is and especially under pressure he is too good. That's what we saw. I am so grateful that Dhoni bhai even without captaining a school team or college team, winning the World Cup that too for the first time,” he explained.
Sreesanth also recalled the moment when Misbah’s mistimed scoop came his way and said that he “went blank” in that moment. He said that the focus was to not give Misbah a couple of runs as Pakistan’s No.11 batsman was on the other side.
“I have to really thank Dhoni bhai to put me at the short fine leg... when you are really focused, it (everything) becomes blank. I was completely blank,”
"We believed in our routines and once you have a great routine, the self-belief increases. That's what happened at that point of time. I believed that I can make the difference if the ball comes to you. With all the prayers and blessings of other people, that is exactly what happened. I am grateful Misbah played that shot at that point of time,” he concluded.
