On September 24, 2007, India defeated Pakistan at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg to become the first-ever World T20 champions. It was a nail-biting finish as Joginder Sharma bowled a slower one to dismiss Misbah-ul-Haq in the final-over, taking India home.
Chasing India’s score of 157 runs, Pakistan was 9 wickets down and needed 13 runs in the last over with Misbah playing brilliantly at one end. In place of experienced Harbhajan Singh, captain MS Dhoni decided to go with Haryana’s medium-pacer Joginder Sharma.
Joginder gave seven runs in his first two balls. The equation now was that Pakistan just needed 6 runs off 4 balls. On his next delivery, Joginder changed his length and bowled a slower one. Misbah tried to scoop but was caught by Sreesanth standing on fine-leg.
“In the air… Sreesanth takes it! India WIN!“, screamed Ravi Shastri (now India’s head coach) in the commentary box.
This day that year, 🇮🇳 became the inaugural World T20 Champions 🏆#TeamIndia #KorboLorboJeetbo #OnThisDay pic.twitter.com/fFGL1k2mu9
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) September 24, 2019
The final-over hero Joginder Sharma is now serving as DSP in Haryana Police. On the 12 anniversary of the 2007 WC final, Joginder posted a message on Twitter thanking all cricket fans for their love and sport.
“12Anniversary for T20 champion team 12 years kaise gae pta hi nahi lga thnks for all for your lot of love and spot,” he tweeted.
12Anniversary for T20 champion team 12 years kaise gae pta hi nahi lga thnks for all for your lot of love and spot @vikrantgupta73 @harbhajan_singh @BCCI @YUVSTRONG12 @ZeeNewsHindi @aajtak pic.twitter.com/T3UzfgCjUI
— Joginder Sharma 🇮🇳 (@MJoginderSharma) September 24, 2019
