On This Day in 2007: India win inaugural T20 World Cup
India defeated Pakistan by five runs to clinch their first-ever T20 World Cup title.
The Men's T20 World Cup was first held in 2007 by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Team India emerged as the champions in the inaugural edition of the tournament. Meanwhile, West Indies and England are the most successful teams in the tournament, both having won two titles.
In 2007, on this day (September 24), India won their first and only T20 championship title. India secured their maiden title after outplaying arch-rivals Pakistan in a dramatic final at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. The 2007 T20 World Cup has a further distinction as it was the tournament in which Mahendra Singh Dhoni took over as captain of team India.
On September 14, 2007, India began their campaign against their fierce rivals Pakistan at the Kingsmead in Durban after their first encounter against Scotland was postponed. Dhoni orchestrated India's dramatic bowl-out victory in the drawn match which recorded his first-ever win as captain.
India beat Pakistan by five runs to clinch inaugural T20 World Cup
Speaking about the clash, India skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat first. Former opener Gautam Gambhir played a gritty knock of 54-ball 75 runs as India posted 157 runs in 20 overs. His knock was studded with eight boundaries and two maximums.
Apart from him, Irfan Pathan scored a crucial knock of unbeaten 30 off 16 deliveries. Umar Gul was Pakistan's key bowler who finished with excellent figures of 3/28 in four overs.
Pakistan got off to the worst possible start as they lost opener Mohammad Hafeez for just one run. The Indian bowlers were excellent as they restricted Pakistan by 152 runs in 19.3 overs to secure the title. Irfan Pathan and RP Singh claimed a three-wicket haul for India while Joginder Sharma and S Sreesanth picked two and one wickets respectively. Misbah-ul-Haq was the top-scorer of Pakistan, amassing 43 off 38 balls.
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