Three strong reasons behind India’s 2007 20-20 World Cup Victory

24^th September marks the 15^th anniversary of India’s historic triumph at the inaugural 20-20 World Cup in 2007. The ‘Men-in-blue’ led by a new captain MS Dhoni etched their names in the annals of history taking the cricketing fraternity by storm. There were several stars who were the strong reasons behind India being crowned the World Champions in cricket’s newest format.

A young Indian team put on a stupendous display of their cricketing skills as new heroes emerged in every match that India played. As the entire country celebrate India’s second major cup win today, let’s take a look at the top three reasons the ‘Men-in-blue’ managed to clinch the inaugural title of T20 World Champions:

1. Outstanding bowling display:

ICC T20 World Cup 2007: (Image Source: Twitter)

The Indian bowling came to the party throughout the tournament as both spinners and seamers gave crucial breakthroughs to the team. R.P Singh was the leading wicket-taker for India and the joint-second highest of the tournament. He picked up 12 wickets at an average of 12 and an excellent economy of 6.33.

Irfan Pathan was the second-highest wicket-taker for the team who had 10 wickets to his name. Harbhajan Singh and S. Sreesanth also contributed immensely picking up seven and six wickets respectively. India’s outstanding bowling display of the tournament came in the must-win match against South Africa as they defended 153, winning the match by 37 runs against the hosts.

2. Gautam Gambhir’s stupendous run:

Gautam Gambhir: (Image Source: Twitter)

Gambhir was the most consistent performer for India with the bat in the entire tournament. The southpaw amassed 227 runs in seven innings at an average of 37 and a strike rate of 129. He had three half-centuries to his name out of which the most important one came at the grand stage of the final. The opener scored a magnificent 75 off 54 balls and helped his team reach a good total of 157.  The other two half-centuries from Gambhir’s bat came against New Zealand and England respectively.

3. MS Dhoni’s captaincy: 

MS Dhoni: (Image Source: Twitter)

Dhoni came into the tournament without having any captaincy experience in the past. But he still took on the challenge and showed his smart brain in the first match against Pakistan. After the game ended in a tie, both the teams participated in the bowl-out to decide the winner of the match.

Dhoni selected spinners to do the job for India and stood right behind the stumps to make it easier for his bowlers to aim. His strategy worked wonders for the team as all three Indian bowlers managed to hit the stumps and on the other hand, Pakistan missed it.

Another brave call from the Indian captain came during the final when he threw the ball to Joginder Sharma to bowl the final over with 14 runs required to win. The gamble worked in India’s favour as Sharma removed the dangerous Misbah-ul-Haq on the third bowl of the over and made himself a part of a historic moment.

Apart from his captaincy, Dhoni was also the second-highest run-scorer for India with 154 runs to his name at an average of 30 and a strike rate of 128.

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