The semi-final encounter between India and Australia in the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, held in Durban, South Africa, turned out to be a high-octane clash.
Initially, it was Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa, along with a few finishing blows from Indian captain MS Dhoni, which helped India post a stiff target of almost 190 in front of the Aussies.
The contest is also remembered for S Sreesanth’s fiery spell where he ended up conceding only 12 runs and picked a couple of vital wickets.
After being handed the new ball, Sree sent back the dangerous looking Adam Gilchrist upfront. The third-wicket partnership between Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds was threatening to take the game away from the Indians.
In his second spell, Sree came back to pick the wicket of Hayden who scored a quickfire 62. The Kerala speedster cleaned up both the Australian openers with absolute peaches, as the formidable duo lost their stumps.
Sree, in his trademark manner, gave an animated send-off to the openers, much to the joy for the spectators. Now, the two-time World-Cup winner revealed about how a pep-talk from Dhoni helped him being extra-motivated.
“Dhoni bhai motivated me. He said you keep showing your aggression here and there; now do it against Australia. I think it worked like a key mechanism for me because I got fired up at the right time. The first ball, Hayden hit me for a boundary because I tried a yorker. That was the plan because I had seen Shoaib Akhtar get him out to the same ball,” Sree said on Youtube channel ‘Cow Corner Chronicles with Chandresh’.
India ended up winning the match by a comfortable margin of 15 runs, as the Blue Brigade entered into the final of the tournament which they eventually won against arch-rivals Pakistan.
