'Those memories will always be there because we made history' - Lalchand Rajput recalls India's maiden T20 World Cup victory

15 years ago today, Team India pulled off an act that was totally unexpected from them. On this day, September 24, 2007, the MS Dhoni-led Indian team won the first-ever T20 World Cup in Johannesburg, South Africa. India celebrated its title win all night long with a great deal of pomp after defeating Pakistan in the final, making it a particularly memorable victory.

The early elimination of the Rahul Dravid-led side from the 2007 ODI World Cup in March was largely exorcised by the title win. The victory marked the arrival of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a skipper, and as they say, the rest is history. In just his first tournament as a captain, he led the side to a special, memorable win as the Men in Blue lifted the coveted championship trophy.

Former India cricketer and India’s manager during the 2007 T20 World Cup, Lalchand Rajput opened up about the feelings and emotions that were running through when India played the game, as he said:

“Those memories will always be there because we made history. No one was expecting us to win. Even before leaving [for South Africa], everyone was talking about the young team, with a new captain [MS Dhoni], and new coach; Dhoni was captaining for the first time, and I became coach for the first time. But we were motivated to do something. And by winning the World Cup, we created history.”

There are a lot of X-Factor players in the 2022 Indian World Cup squad: Rajput

Though India went on to win the tournament, just like other teams, it was a new format for them too as they had played only one game in the 20-over format before walking into the world cup. Furthermore, many of the more seasoned professionals had chosen to withdraw, including Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, and Sachin Tendulkar. There were players like Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, and Gautam Gambhir on the team, who were dependable and they never made India look weak.

“It was the first T20 World Cup, so no one knew what it was about. No one had any experience. Before the World Cup, the Indian team had played only one T20I. Since IPL started in 2008, the players have evolved in the format. Many players have had a lot of game time. There are a lot of X-Factor players in the Indian World Cup squad [for 2022]. At that time, we had Yuvraj and Sehwag. Now there are Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav,” he added.