From bossing Broad to the crowning moment: India's moments of glory at the T20 World Cup – part 3

Two more days and Team India takes the yard for the first time in the ongoing T20 World Cup while the Super 12 of the tournament kickstarts from tomorrow with a banger between last year’s finalists, Australia and New Zealand.

With the first two parts of the series talking about India’s bravery and attitude, it’s time for the final installation of the sequence where we will only talk about the best. Let's look back at the finest moments crafted by Team India in the history of the showpiece event.

·      Sehwag, Bhajji and Robbie leave Pakistan bowled out 

After their maiden contest in the history of the T20 World Cup against Scotland had been washed out, India were up against their arch-rivals. After an incessant exchange of haymakers, the game finished on a tied note. For the first time, cricket was on the cusp of seeing something similar to that of a tie-breaker in football and the phenomenon was called bowl out. Shocking everyone, Dhoni sent his part-time spinner, Sehwag to attempt the first hit. India’s ace opener wobbled in with a grin on his face and delivered a flatter delivery that hit the stumps comfortably. With Pakistan trailing in the very first attempt as Arafat missed, Harbhajan kept things simple and hit the stumps too. Sadly, for Pakistan, they made a hash of affairs with Umar Gul somehow shortening his run-up and eventually missing the stumps completely. Another shocker awaited the world as another part-timer was summoned to do the job for the Men in Blue and this time it was none other than Robin Uthappa and the Coorg lad didn’t disappoint. Unable to withstand the pressure, Shahid Afridi steamed down and fired his delivery wide down the leg-side as the world stayed witness to a new precedent, a new era of victory, an era of domination that started with a tie-breaker called bowl out.

·      Yuvraj Singh outrages Broad as Durban erupts in incredulity in 2007

It was another must-win encounter for the Indians and facing England they were stationed at 171 for the loss of 3 with 2 overs to go. At the end of the 18th over, sparks flew with Yuvraj Singh walking up to Andrew Flintoff with a few heated words and had to be calmed down by the umpires and MS Dhoni. Stuart Broad was up next and even before he realised the magnitude of horror that he was about to be up against, Yuvi smacked him out of the park literally on the very first ball of his over. The following delivery was insolently flicked down the leg-side as if there is only one possible outcome in the entirety of cricket and it is wherever Yuvraj hits. The third ball flew over the extra cover as the camera panned at Flintoff’s face that was still in disbelief about the monstrosity that was unfolding at Durban. No matter whatever Broad tried, the stars were simply not aligned for him. Attempting a wide full-toss from round the wicket, Yuvraj still managed to flick him over backward point for the fourth six in the over. With a full-blown on-ground emergency meeting in place, Broad still couldn’t figure out a way to soften up the Indian southpaw. An attempted yorker was thwacked over midwicket to bring it all down to the final ball of the over. Forget the war, forget the battle, forget the World Cup, the only thing on England’s mind was they had to thwart Yuvraj from smashing that final ball into the stands. Broad bowled a bit short this time but the outcome was nothing different as the Indian biffer leaned back and bludgeoned it to the stands, conjuring the unthinkable.

·      Joginder Sharma puts Harry Houdini to the challenge and clinches the crown for the Men in Blue

Just in case you are unaware of ‘the’ Harry Houdini, he was one of the greatest stunt performers in the world. The sheer size of the onus that Joginder Sharma had on his shoulders when Dhoni handed him that final over, was nothing short of a stunt that sent shivers of terror down everyone’s spine. With 13 needed off 6, Sharma bowled the first ball against a fully ablaze Misbah a mile away from the tramline, forcing Mahi to walk up to the medium pacer and have a quick chat. The following ball was in the exact same line but this time it was slightly inside the tramline and much to Pakistan’s disappointment it was a dot ball. Just when the Indian fans were hoping for another decent delivery, Sharma committed the biggest howler of his life, offering a grandiose gift to Misbah in the form of a perfectly heightened full-toss outside the off-stump, inviting to be smashed. The Pakistani biffer accepted the invitation with arms wide open and launched it over long-off to bring down the equation to 6 from 4. With the fans nervous and with their hands clasped in prayer, with the Indian captain, hoping for one last miracle, with the tension blowing through the roof, Sharma once again bowled outside the off. Misbah shuffled himself and attempted a daring scoop. Failing to connect it with the middle of the bat, the ball went miles up in the air. Sreesanth was stationed at the short-fine leg and he made no mistake to grab the nail-biter, snuffing out all the tension in the dressing room, and eventually crowning India the champions of the world.