This day in 2007: When MS Dhoni's masterstroke helped India outwit Pakistan in T20 World Cup bowlout

On this day in the year 2007, Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa and Harbhajan Singh outbowled Pakistan bowlers, with the help of MS Dhoni, to win the first bowl-out in the 2007 T20 World Cup.

HIGHLIGHTS

• MS Dhoni helps Indian bowlers win bowl out against Pakistan
• India register their first win in the T20 World Cup
• India went on win the inaugural T20 World Cup

Team India appeared in its 1st ever T20 International match in December 2006 when they played South Africa in Johannesburg. Under Virender Sehwag’s captaincy, India won the thriller of a game by 6 wickets (and 1 ball remaining) with Dinesh Karthik being awarded the Man of the Match for his unbeaten 31 off 28 in finishing the game.

India went on to play their next game only in the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007 under MS Dhoni’s captaincy. The first scheduled game for India in the ICC tournament, which was against Scotland, was washed out after the toss. However, on September 14, India met their biggest rivals in the competition. Robin Uthappa had scored a splendid half-century to help India post a total of 141/9. In reciprocation to that, Pakistan’s Misbah-ul-Haq scored a brave 53 off 34 up until the final delivery, when the scores were level, and Pakistan needed a single run to win. Sreesanth, who had conceded 11 runs off the final over, helped India orchestrate the run out of Misbah and the match ended in a Tie.

First bowlout in 2007 T20 World Cup

ICC’s rule to break the Tie was a Bowl Out competition with six rounds. MS Dhoni took his place behind the stumps to guide the Indian bowlers as soon as Sehwag came in to bowl the first round with a grin on his face. India took a lead of 1-0 as Sehwag hit the stumps and his Pakistan counterpart, Yasir Arafat, bowled a full stop only to miss the off stump. The same thing repeated in the next couple of rounds between Harbhajan Singh-Umar Gul and Robin Uthappa-Shahid Afridi. As India were ahead by 3-0 after Round 3 of Bowl out, the competition ended right there and India were declared the winners of the match. All that while, it the genius of MS Dhoni that was the one guiding the bowlers and showing them where exactly to aim to hit the ball.