In what is remembered as one of S Sreesanth's best spells playing for India, the pacer bowled four overs for just 12 runs and picked up the crucial wickets of Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist in the second semi-final of the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 against Australia.
Recalling his outstanding spell in Durban that propelled India through to the final, Sreesanth revealed how a conversation with skipper MS Dhoni really spurred him on before the run-chase, as he went on to help the team successfully defend the 189-run target against a very strong Aussie batting line-up on a flat surface.
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"Dhoni bhai motivated me. He said you keep showing your aggression here and there; now do it against Australia,” Sreesanth said on YouTube show 'Cow Corner Chronicles' with Chandresh. "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."
"My whole plan was to run in with intension because I wanted Australia to be defeated. With the way Australia defeated India in the 2003 World Cup, it was always there in my head. I wanted to kill them literally, that’s why when you see when I perform against Australia, I am somewhere else."
Sreesanth said he wanted India to settle the score with the Australians, having gone down heavily against them in the 2003 World Cup final.
Ricky Ponting's outstanding 140 not out took Australia to a mammoth score of 359/2, before India folded for just 234 inside 40 overs in a rain adjusted chase.
Sreesanth, whose career for India began two years after that game, said: "in the final, nobody scored except Viru bhai and there was so much spoken about the result that because of it, I always used to be extremely angry towards the Australians. I am so proud and God has been extremely kind that one match everybody talks about is that match."
"The best I have bowled for my country is that match. I had bowled a lot of dot balls. I remember I had gone for two fours and overall went for just 12 runs."
The hero of that game, Ponting, was missing the T20 World Cup semi-final four years later because of an injury. In his place, Gilchrist stood as captain against India.
"I always liked getting the captain out. So ahead of the semifinal against Australia, Dinesh bhai (Sreesanth’s coach) called me and asked me ‘who do you want to dismiss tomorrow?’ I said Ricky Ponting. He told me Ponting may not play because he has some sort of injury, so he will straightaway prepare for the final’. I said, ‘what final… how will they play the final? Are were here to just eat mangoes'."
"He went on saying it happened in the 2003 final as well. You’ve done really well. Don’t worry too much; they are a brilliant team. That what pumped me up even further to get Gilchrist’s wicket early," Sreesanth remembers.
(Inputs from Hindustan Times)
