The inaugural edition of ICC World Twenty20 was held in South Africa from 11 to 24 September 2007. The final match of first T20 world cup was played between two biggest arch rivals in world i.e. India and Pakistan. The champion deciding game was played at New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on 24 September.
Toss: India won toss and chose to bat first.
Playing XIs
| India | Pakistan |
| MS Dhoni (Captain) | Shoaib Malik (Captain) |
| Gautam Gambhir | Mohammad Hafeez |
| Yusuf Pathan | Imran Nazir |
| Robin Uthappa | Kamran Akmal |
| Yuvraj Singh | Younis khan |
| Rohit Sharma | Misbah-Ul-Haq |
| Irfan Pathan | Shahid Afridi |
| Harbhajan Singh | Yasir Arafat |
| Joginder Sharma | Sohail Tanvir |
| S Sreesanth | Umar Gul |
| RP Singh | Mohammad Asif |
First inning
Indian openers Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan came to bat in this high-voltage final match against Pakistan. Pathan gave flying start and he smashed 15 runs in just 8 balls before getting dismissed to Asif in third over.
Robin Uthappa came in at crucial time in the match but he failed to deliver and returned to pavilion after scoring just 8 runs in 11 balls.
Indian team was struggling at 40/2 in sixth over and tournament’s man in form batsman Yuvraj Singh came to bat at number four. In this inning he was struggling to score the runs but was steady at one end in a partnership with Gambhir.
Left handed Gautam Gambhir was on song in this inning and he added 63 runs for the third wicket partnership with Yuvraj. Yuvi just made 14 runs in 19 balls. India were 103/3 in 14th over.
It was the time when batsmen need to score fast runs and all hopes were on the young shoulder of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. But Dhoni failed and returned to pavilion after making just 6 runs in 10 balls.
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At one end wickets were falling and other end Gambhir was scoring runs alone. He completed his half century in 38 balls. Before getting dismissed he made 75 crucial runs in 54 balls with the help of two sixes and eight fours.
Gautam Gambhir scored 75 runs in final
India were 130/5 in 18 overs and still team required at least 20 runs to put challenging score for arch rivals. Rohit Sharma took the responsibility in the final overs and he scored firing 30 runs in 16 balls.
After completion of 20 overs, India put 157 runs on the board which wasn’t less than 170 in terms of match situation and final match pressure.
Umar Gul was the most successful bowler for Pakistan in this match as he took 3 wickets in 4 overs quota by conceding just 28 runs.
Second inning
In the chase of 158, Pakistan lost opener Mohammad Hafeez in the very first over to RP Singh.
Other opener Imran Nazir was in full mood to destroy Indian bowling lineup and he started to deal in boundaries and sixes. Wicket-keeper batsman Kamran Akmal failed to open his account and Pakistan lost their 2nd wicket in third over.
Pakistan crossed 50 runs mark in the 5th over just because of power hitting from Nazir. All things were going in Men in Green’s way but a big misunderstanding was created between Nazir and Younis Khan for a run in the fifth over.
Robin Uthappa took advantage of this and sent off Imran Nazir. Nazir made 33 in 14 balls before getting run out. Pakistan were 53/3 in 6 overs.
All hopes were on experienced Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik but Pakistani fans got disappointment as both players didn’t score much required runs and wasted the balls in prospects of the match. First Younis was dismissed in the 9th over by Joginder Sharma and then Irfan Pathan took Malik’s crucial wicket in 12th over.
Boom Boom Afridi also returned to the pavilion after the very next ball of Malik’s dismissal. Pak team was in big trouble as team’s score was77 in 12 overs for the loss of 6 wickets.
Misbahj-ul-haq was at one end who was scoring runs a bit. Lower order batsmen Yasir Arafat (15) and Sohail Tanvir (12) gave useful contributions and stood with Misbah to get close to win.
The match was in exciting end as Pakistan needed 13 runs in 6 balls with one wicket remaining. Indian captain MS Dhoni surprised everyone with his decision as he asked inexperienced Joginder Sharma to bowl final over. Joginder bowled wide ball of the 1st ball of final over. Now Pak required 12 in 6.
Misbah Ul Haq was on the strike and he missed the first legal ball of the over. On the second ball of over he hit the six and the game was in favor of Pakistan. Pakistan needed just 6 runs in 4 balls to become first winner of ICC World Twenty20.
But Misbah-ul-haq failed to do it and was caught be S Sreesanth. India won 2007 t20 world cup final by 5 runs.
Irfan Pathan took 3 wickets in his full over bowling quota by conceding just 16 runs. He was awarded Man of the Match.
Final Result: India beat Pakistan by 5 runs to win 2007 WT20.
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