From RP Singh’s rip-roaring showdown to Ashwin’s four-star display against Australia: India's moments of glory at the T20 World Cup - Part 2

As we started with a series of three installments yesterday with the sole objective of narrating the stories of India’s most valiant moments in the T20 World Cup, the first part talked about Virat’s commanding chase, Dhoni’s presence of mind and Sreesanth’s brilliant spell.

The second part will not be just about chases and containment but it would be about the redoubtable tales of looking your opponent in the eye, no matter how steep of a task you are trying to brave, it would narrate stories of a fully-operational ‘Steyn gun’ at its peak being silenced and it would sing paeans to an Indian side that took out a full-blown Australian canon from its very roots. Without further ado, let’s dive deep into memories.

·      RP Singh cripples an unbeaten South Africa in 2007

In a must-win game, much to India’s shocker, their batters found themselves wobbling early. However, redoubtable fights from Rohit Sharma and Dhoni propelled India to a respectable 153. For a team who has previously chased down a 400-plus total in the longer formats, scoring at 7.5 runs per over, well cakewalk should have been the ideal term. Much to the surprise of the South Africans, they were up against an untenable machine that was famished for blood. On a surface where the ball was drifting left, right and center, Singh produced a blinder to start proceedings with that caught Herschelle Gibbs off his guard. A couple of balls later, our very own Finisher Supreme, Dinesh Karthik, was flying to his left to pluck a stunner as Graeme Smith couldn’t read the drift and ended up nicking. Singh’s third victim of the night was Shaun Pollock as he produced an in-swinger that cannoned through the defences of the South African quick and the undefeated Proteas were on the brink with the Men in Blue consistently pushing. The left-arm Indian seamer returned for his final over in the 19th and completed his haul with the prized scalp of Albie Morkel as a picture-perfect yorker on the middle stump was more than enough to kiss his timbre and bid adieu to South Africa from the World Cup.

·      Virat Kohli muffles an unreservedly spraying “Steyn Gun” in 2014

Not every day do you see two alpha athletes going head-on against each other and that too at the peak of their form. Virat Kohli was pitted against the mighty Dale Steyn in the semi-finals of the 2014 edition. Chasing a monumental 173, Kohli started slow, occasionally flexing his muscles in India’s long pursuit. However, it was the arrival of Dale Steyn that brought out the beast in the future Indian captain as he weathered the ace South African quick steadily in his second over, biding time for himself in the build-up to a grandstand finish. Steyn returned for his third over when India needed 24 off the last 3. The first two balls produced only three runs, simply penning another extensive ode to Steyn and his already bedecked legacy. It was the fourth ball of the over where Virat Kohli used his crafty wrists and flicked Steyn to the ropes using the aerial route. If that was just a glimpse of Kohli’s mind-blowing rampage, he dared to waltz down the pitch and hammer Steyn’s shortie over point for another boundary that can be labelled as the roof-shattering crescendo. In a moment of poetic justice, Kohli flicked the ace South African quick past midwicket to sail India hammer and tongs into the grand finale of the tournament, staying unbeaten for 72 off just 44 balls.

·      Ravichandran Ashwin bamboozles Australia at Mirpur in 2014

Despite bowing out to Sri Lanka in the grand finale of the tournament, the 2014 edition starred a string of bangers from the Men in Blue. Defending 159 in a Group game against the mighty Aussies, Dhoni introduced Ravichandran Ashwin early in the mix. In the second ball of his very first over, the Indian offie tossed it up to Finch and the latter couldn’t resist swinging hard. The resultant effort went miles high in the sky and Kohli covered a significant distance to strike the first blow of the night to the Australian hearts. Bringing India’s premium off-spinner back to the attack in the 8th over where David Warner was desperately trying to unload the maximums, Dhoni produced that much-needed mishit where the Australian opener mistimed his slog sweep and Rohit Sharma darting in from deep midwicket grabbed a stunner. The next man to depart was the dangerous-looking Glenn Maxwell as Ash changed his angle and tossed up another ripper where the Big Show’s effort to strike the switch hit went all haywire and his stumps were left in smoke. It was Ravichandran Ashwin who would eventually put the Aussies out of their misery. Bowling on the middle stump, he kept it short and James Muirhead’s attempted cut short ended in the safe arms of Dhoni, securing a massive win for the Indians and more importantly issuing a strong statement for their counterparts.