Joginder Sharma Reveals Chat With MS Dhoni During 2007 T20 World Cup Final Last Over

Joginder said the memories of the 2007 T20 World Cup final are still fresh in his mind and always will be. He revealed Dhoni had fully assured him not to worry about the end result.

Joginder Sharma revealed MS Dhoni had fully assured him not to worry about the end result.

Source : AFP

New Delhi: On this day, Indian cricket team completed 15 years of its historic win over Pakistan in the inaugural T20 World Cup final on 24th September 2007 in South Africa's Johannesburg. Men in Blue, on this day, won their maiden world title in 24 years and the memories of that are still alive in the minds of the fans. One of the best people to describe India's T20 WC 2007 win is none another than ex-India player Joginder Sharma, currently playing for Gujarat Giants in Legends League Cricket (LLC).

Whenever there are talks about India's 2007 T20 World Cup win, Joginder Sharma's contribution and mention will always be unforgettable in the minds of Indian cricket fans. The medium pacer, who bowled the last over of the match, helped India win the 2007 T20 World Cup final against Pakistan by just five runs.

Chasing 158 for the win, Pakistan needed 13 runs to win off the last six balls. Pakistan's Misbah-ul-Haq, batting in the best form of his life, was about to seal the result in his team's favor. Under such circumstances, Dhoni made one of the biggest gamble in cricketing history and asked Joginder to bowl the final over, who then dismissed Misbah to make India the world champion.

After so many years, Joginder said the memories of the 2007 T20 World Cup final are still fresh in his mind and always will be. Joginder revealed Dhoni had fully assured him not to worry about the end result.

"I was the one who had bowled the last over against Australia in the semi-final. During practice sessions, we were asked to bowl specific amount of balls as yorkers and outside off-stump and Mahi (MS Dhoni) had a lot of faith in me," Joginder was quoted as saying by Crictracker. 

"(In the final) I was pretty confident and ran to bowl the last over the moment Mahi signaled. He told me not to worry about the outcome."

"When I bowled the first delivery, it swung and was called a wide. People assumed that I was under pressure and that's why I bowled a wide but I was pretty happy to see the ball swing. I always felt pretty confident when the ball swung as I believed that it gave me an upper hand regardless of the batter on strike."

"The next ball was a dot and I got hit for a six on the second ball. Dhoni walked up to me again and I told him that there's nothing to worry, if there's a change in strike then I'll get rid of the other batter."

"Misbah was already positioned to play a scoop on the leg-side, while I was still in my follow through thinking that I'll try to bowl a yorker outside off. But I changed my strategy and pulled my length back and cut down on pace. The ball didn't hit the meat of his willow and Sreesanth settled under it and took the catch."