MS Dhoni handing the ball to a relatively unfancied Joginder Sharma for the final over of the 2007 T20 World Cup final remains one of the greatest gambles witnessed in cricket, as well as one of Indian cricket’s most memorable overs.
Haryana seamer Joginder became an overnight hero as a result of the over, in which he recovered from a shaky start to get set batter Misbah-ul-Haq caught at short fine leg, resulting in a nerve-wracking five-run win for the Men in Blue at the Wanderers in Johannesburg and giving the team their only T20 world title till date.
However, Dhoni’s decision to hand the ball to Joginder came about as a result of the reluctance shown by the senior Indian bowlers, according to Shoaib Malik, who led Pakistan in that tournament.
“I will not take names. Each of India’s main bowlers had one over left. Dhoni asked everyone, but they refused to bowl the last over. They were afraid to bowl to Misbah. He was hitting all over the ground.
“People always talk about that scoop shot by Misbah. I am telling you, If it was not the last wicket, he must have hit him down the ground. He had already hit Joginder for a big six in that over,” Malik said on Pakistani sports show The Pavilion on A Sports.
A look at the scorecard for the final, however, reveals that most of the senior bowlers, viz. Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth and RP Singh, had bowled their quota and Dhoni was left to choose between medium pacer Joginder and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
Both Pathan and RP had collected three wickets each in their four overs while Harbhajan proved expensive on the day, going wicketless for 36 runs in three overs, getting hit for three sixes by Misbah in his third over.
Dhoni ultimately went with Joginder, who had bowled a tidy spell of 3-0-13-1 and dismissed Younis Khan along the way. The rest, as they say, is history.
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