‘THEY CAN’T HIT THE STUMPS’ – Fans reminisce anniversary of India’s win against Pakistan via bowl-out during T20 World Cup 2007

On this day in 2007, India played their second-only T20I game, i.e. against Pakistan during the T20 World Cup. After their opening game against washed out due to rain, the Men In Blue locked horns with their arch-rivals. Meanwhile, in the clash of the Titans, the Green Brigade won the toss and elected to field first. India had a poor start as they lost four wickets for 36 runs.

All these wickets were taken by Mohammad Asif, one of the best swing bowlers at the time. Meanwhile, the likes of Robin Uthappa (50 off 39 balls) and MS Dhoni (33 off 31 balls) put together 46 runs for the fifth wicket. Cameos from Irfan Pathan (20) and Ajit Agarkar (14) helped the team reach 141/9 with Asif picking four wickets. On the other hand, Shahid Afridi took two and Sohail Tanvir and Yasir Arafat took one each.

India managed to tie the game and win it in Bowl Out

In reply, Pakistan also didn’t have the greatest of starts on a seaming track of Durban. They lost four wickets for 47 runs. Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan, and RP Singh took one wicket each while Kamran Akmal was run out by Yuvraj Singh. At this stage, Misbah ul Haq and Shoaib Malik put together 40 runs for the fifth wicket.

After this partnership was broken, the team was reduced to 103/6 as Shahid Afridi (7) failed with the bat. At this stage, Haq (53) and Yasir Arafat (12) were taking the team well and the target was reduced to one-off two balls. The former played a dot ball which led to Haq needing to score on the last ball. The right-hander failed to do so as he got run out by Agarkar and S Sreesanth duo.

After the main game, the game shifted to bowl first, the first instance, and probably the last time. During the shootout, India, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, and Robin Uthappa managed to hit the stumps one time each. On the other hand, Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi, Yasir Arafat, and Umar Gul failed to hit even once.

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