THE CUP IS COMING HOME

September 24, 2007 | By Naman Bagga | Filed in: Cricket.

The pictures say it all.India are the ICC World Twenty20 champions.Yes,the team managed to do it.Here’s the match in brief-

India – 157-5 in 20 overs
Pakistan – 152-10 in 19.3 overs
Result-India win the T20 world cup final by 5 runs.
Man Of The Match – Irfan Pathan for his bowling figures of 3/16 in 4 overs.
Man Of The Series – Shahid Afridi

After effect of the match-I have a sore throat as I screamed too loudly while cheering for India.

India started well with Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan giving a good start to the innings.Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni failed to deliver and India managed 157-5, a total which was not enough.Gautam Gambhir played a nice innings of 75 runs off 54 balls.

But India proved to the entire world that wickets do matter in T20.Misbah Ul Haq nearly won the match for Pakistan but lost his nerve and his wicket.Irfan Pathan and RP Singh bowled perfectly but Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth were a bit on the expensive side.Pakistan’s key player and man of the series,Afridi failed miserably as a result of great bowling by Irfan Pathan.Imran Nazir was looking dangerous but he was run out before he could steal the match from India.

Shah Rukh Khan was there to cheer India and gave the players big bear hugs after the match.MS Dhoni took off his shirt in celebration.This is going to be a memorable match for the team.The last over could have decided the future of Joginder Sharma.Pakistan was a hit away from victory and at the same time India was a wicket away from victory.Here’s a clip of the last ball in which Misbah-ul-Haq threw away his wicket to Joginder Sharma-

India had a great world cup.Here are some interesting facts.They lost just to New Zealand(lucky side) and were nearly knocked out in the super 8 stage.Pakistan lost just 2 matches in the world cup,both to India.Pakistan has never yet defeated India in a world cup match.

BCCI has announced a reward of 2 million dollars for the Indian team and a sum of Rs 1 crore to Yuvraj Singh for his 6 sixes in Stuart Broad’s over.Another important fact is that India don’t have a coach.Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh as bowling coach and fielding coach are the only guidance they had.

The ICC World Twenty20 has been a big success.The matches have been spectacular.There was just 1 one-sided match,the one between Sri Lanka and Kenya.Rest of the matches have been too close for comfort.The world cup has been literally unpredictable.Two sub-continental teams in the final is a rare sight.The final was a perfect end to a perfect tournament.


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