‘Pakistan didn’t know much about the bowl-out’: Irfan Pathan recalls epic 2007 T20 World Cup clash

Match ended in a tie leading to a bowl out which India won after Pakistan failed to hit the stumps even once.

India celebrates after Pakistan misses its three attempts at the stumps | Getty

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has recently recalled the epic and famous bowl out between India and Pakistan at the first-ever Twenty20 International World Cup in 2007 in South Africa.

The ICC T20 World Cup 2007 has seen all kinds of dramatic stuff including a bowl-out during an enthralling encounter between the two greatest entertainers and arch-rivals India and Pakistan.

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In the T20 World Cup 2007 Final in Johannesburg, Pakistan won the toss and asked India to bat first but it was ended in a thrilling tie between the arch-rivals with MS Dhoni-led Indian Cricket Team managed 141/9 in their allotted 20 overs, while Men in Green also managed a same score 141/7.

After the tied game, the officials decided to determine the winner by the first-ever bowl out in an ICC tournament and Pathan revealed that Pakistan was not prepared for the bowl out in the thriller final since they were confused about how to hit the stumps.

Well, India won the nail-biting bowl-out clash by 5 runs with Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi all missed the radar completely to give India a memorable T20 World Cup 2007 triumph on 14th September as all three Indians Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, and Robin Uthappa managed to hit the stumps.

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Recalling the famous bowl out at Star Sports’ special episode of Cricket Connected chat show named ‘Watch Along of the 2007 ICC World T20 between India and Pakistan’, Pathan said: “Pakistan captain (Shoaib Malik) even accepted this in the press conference that they didn’t know about the bowl-out.”

He further added, “That’s why when the time came for a bowl out, they had no idea whether to bowl from full run-up or half run-up. On the other hand, we were fully ready and prepared and the result was clear there was no contest between the two teams. It was a thrilling match with both teams fighting hard but when it came to the bowl out, the game tilted towards India.”

Pathan signed off by saying, “There was no competition between the two teams. When the regulation match was going on, there was a fierce competition between both the teams, and it was a close affair. But during the bowl-out, there was no competition.”

(With IANS Inputs)

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 14 Aug, 2020

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