T20 Kings: When Dhoni, Rohit Brought Cup Home!

Dhoni's Young Turks Script History!

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's young Indian team not only created history by winning the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, their famous triumph also marked a red letter day for the sport in the country and led to an unprecedented boom in Indian cricket.

Cricket has never been the same since India's thrilling, last-over win over Pakistan in the final at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, on September 24, 2007.

The prospects of the cash-rich IPL got a massive fillip after T20 cricket became a household name following India's World Cup win.

India went into the tournament as rank underdogs after most of their senior stars including Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid opted out of the tournament.

India had badly under-performed in the ICC 50-overs World Cup in the West Indies in 2007, exiting the tournament in the first round itself. In the aftermath, Dravid was replaced by young wicket-keeper-batter Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the T20 skipper.

Noticed widely till then for his long mane and unorthodox batting style, few would have expected him to bring about such a massive change in Indian cricket's fortunes.

Having beaten Australia in the semi-final by 15 runs, India met Pakistan, who had beaten New Zealand by six wickets in the second semi-final, in the summit clash.

In the final, India won the toss and chose to bat on what was considered to be a traditionally batsman-friendly pitch at the Wanderers.

Gautam Gambhir scored his third half-century of the tournament, but India could not capitalise on a reasonably good start.

Gambhir, now the India head coach, batted through the first 18 overs, stroking eight boundaries and two sixes, aggregating 75 off just 54 balls.

Young Rohit Sharma (30 not out) was the other notable contributor as the Indians found the going tough in the face of some disciplined bowling by Pakistan, who took control of the game at the midway stage.

Paceman Umar Gul played a big role in upsetting the tempo with a brilliant effort of 3 for 28 in his four overs, capturing the prized scalps of Yuvraj Singh (14), Dhoni (6) and Gambhir.

India had to do without the services of the hard-hitting Virender Sehwag, who had to sit out of the final because of a groin injury.

Rohit scored 30 not out in 16 balls in the closing overs to take India to 157 for five in their 20 overs.

When Pakistan batted, pacer R P Singh gave India the perfect start, dismissing Mohammad Hafeez (1) and Kamran Akmal (0) in successive overs, the first and third of the innings.

Opener Imran Nazir scored a quickfire 33 from 14 deliveries before being run out by some superb fielding from Robin Uthappa.

Later, a 21-run over from pacer Shantakumaran Sreesanth titled the game towards Pakistan.

However, Irfan Pathan and Joginder Sharma slowed down the scoring dramatically.

With Pakistan needing 54 from 24 balls, Misbah-ul-Haq hit three sixes off Harbhajan Singh in one over. Sreesanth was despatched for two sixes, as Pakistan went into the last over needing 13 runs to win, with only one wicket remaining.

Then the little-known Joginder Sharma bowled that famous last over, and instantly etched his name in Indian cricket history. He first sent down a wide ball, followed by a dot ball.

Misbah then smacked a full toss for a six, leaving Pakistan to get just six runs to win from the last four balls.

However, Misbah attempted a deft paddle-scoop over fine leg off the next ball, but only managed to miscue the ball on the leg side.

Sreesanth, at short fine-leg, ran in and made no mistake with the catch to secure a famous victory for India.

The victory ended India's long wait for a global title as a World Cup trophy finally came home after 24 years!

T20 World Cup 2024: Rohit Ends India's Trophy Drought!

Captain Rohit Sharma engineered India's second T20 World Cup title with an incredible come-from-behind victory in the final against South Africa in Barbados.

India ended an 11-year-long ICC trophy drought, beating South Africa by seven runs to claim the T20 World Cup title for the second time.

This was Rohit's second ICC T20 World Cup and his first ICC title as a captain, after the heartbreak of losing to Australia in the final of the World Cup 2023 at home following a 10-match win streak.

Rohit was India's top-scorer in the tournament with 257 runs in eight innings, including three fifties, at an average of 36.71 and a strike rate of over 155. He was also the second-highest run scorer in the tournament.

Young seamer Arshdeep Singh delivered with the ball in key moments, to finish with 17 wickets at an economy rate of under eight.

For Rohit and fellow batting great Virat Kohli, it marked their final T20 match for India prior to retirement, and it was also the final game for Head Coach Rahul Dravid.

India's first tough test came against arch-rival Pakistan in New York and their chances looked hopeless when they were dismissed for 119 on a tricky pitch at the Nassau county international cricket stadium.

Pakistan were cruising at 80/3 in reply with Mohammad Rizwan and Imad Wasim at the crease, but Jasprit Bumrah made the key breakthrough and Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh delivered in the clutch overs to ensure India's unbeaten streak in the tournament continued.

India's strong start to the group stage didn't win them too many accolades, it meant they just progressed through to the Super Eights stage of the event where more difficult challenges awaited them.

Consecutive victories against Afghanistan and Bangladesh meant they were on the brink of qualification for the semi-finals, but one key match remained against a strong Australian team in St Lucia.

Australia had just fallen against Afghanistan and needed to win themselves to reach the semi-finals and Rohit admitted his team still had scars from their loss to the Aussies in the final of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in 2023.

The skipper himself stood up when it mattered most to smash 92 off just 41 deliveries to help India post 205/5 and a clinical performance with the ball saw India register a 24-run victory and move through to the final four and send Australia packing.

Rohit once again led the way in the cut-throat semi-final with his third half-century of the World Cup, but the target of 172 seemed gettable for England with their strong batting line-up. But spinners Axar Patel and Kuldeep Singh picked three wickets each to send England crashing for 103 in 16.4 overs.

The stage was set for India to break the drought in style against South Africa in the title decider, but the Proteas had other ideas.

Virat Kohli's 76 from 59 balls along with Axar's cameo of 47 from 31 balls saw India recover from a middle order to post a competitive 176/7.

However, South Africa looked comfortable in the run chase. The experienced Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller guided the Proteas to 147/4 and South Africa only needed to score at a run a ball across the final five overs to break their own trophy drought at ICC tournaments.

But Rohit still had two overs from Bumrah up his sleeve and the champion fast bowler picked up a key wicket and kept runs to a minimum as the asking rate slowly began to rise and pressure on the batting side followed suit.

There was still hope for South Africa when they needed 16 from the final over and with Miller still at the crease, but Suryakumar Yadav delivered a moment of immense skill that will live in Indian folklore for years to come when he held onto a superb outfield catch on the boundary to all but clinch victory for India.