When India's first full game of the inaugural T20 World Cup against Pakistan in 2007 saw both teams ending on equal score by the end of their 20 overs and the two captains, MS Dhoni and Shoaib Malik, were told that the tie will be broken via bowl out, only one team and captain, it seemed from the outside at least, were not caught off guard.
The Indians looked far well prepared to have a go at the stumps from 22 yards than their neighbours and as it turned out, while they got all three of their balls crashing the stumps, the Pakistani bowlers, who looked uncomfortable coming from a short run-up, failed to hit even once.
Speaking to R Ashwin on his youtube show, 'DRS with Ash', India's bowling coach at the time, Venkatesh Prasad, said the secret to the team's success at the bowl out was indeed the preparation they had after going through the entire playing conditions for the first-ever T20 global event.
"We had gone through the rules and regulations of the World Cup. When there was a tied game, there was no Super Over back then, there was a bowl out. Obviously, we always use to practice it," he said.
"We had this competition between batsmen and bowlers. Most of the batsmen wanted to bowl as well, like MS Dhoni, Sehwag, and Robin Uthappa. We had this competition in these nets."
The preparation also reflected in the options India chose, as opposed to Pakistan. The Dhoni-led side went for Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa, three finger-spinners, two of those part-timers, attacking the stumps, whereas, the Pakistani team opted for all regular bowlers in Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi, two of those pacers and a wrist-spinner, all not used to short run-up.
"You go through those net sessions a day in and day out. So we wanted to have fun some element as well. So we brought in the bowl out," said Prasad.
"I was looking at what was happening from behind. So I knew who was hitting the wickets consistently. That's when I saw Sehwag hitting, Uthappa hitting and Harbhajan hitting."
"So we said okay fine. Nobody expected that our very first match will have a bowl-out. It was a tight game. It was a bowl-out. It was not hard for me to convince MS Dhoni, saying 'these are the guys who are doing well'."
"We had to take our chances as well. We did take a bit of chance there, having Sehwag and Uthappa. I had to back my instinct and make a decision. The slower bowlers are more in control of their bodies and delivery. They had a straight-arm action," he added.
