T20 World Cup- India’s Top 5 Moments: India, the inaugural champions in the inaugural T20 World Cup 2007. Since then, we have had editions of the T20 World Cup, and India had a very tumultuous fate in each of them, but there have been a lot of moments for Team India.
T20 World Cup 2022 is not far away, practice matches have already started. In this article, we will have a look at the top-5 India moments till now from the gallery of the T20 World Cup.
India’s Top-5 Moments in T20 World Cup
- India edge past in bowl-out vs Pakistan (2007)
India’s first game at the T20 World cup against Pakistan, India beat Pakistan 3-0 in the very first time happened ‘bowl-out round’ in the T20 World Cup (only the second time in T20Is), India playing against Pakistan, the scores are tied at 141 in their respective quota of 20 overs. Now it came down to the bowl outs.
For India, the designated bowlers were – Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, and Robin Uthappa. All three of them hit successfully. And for Pakistan- Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, and Shahid Afridi, none of them were on the target.
Years later, Robin Uthappa said that MS Dhoni made them practice the bowl outs in the nets during the tournament. He said, “we had designated bowlers for a situation like this”. And later, MSD lifted the maiden T20 World Cup trophy for India.
- Suresh Raina, the first Indian batsman to score a century in T20Is (2010)
There is a memory that every Indian keeps very close to them, and that’s Suresh Raina’s century against South Africa in a group match encounter in 2010. India lost their openers Murli Vijay and Dinesh Karthik, then Suresh Raina at 3, and Yuvraj combined their forces to put 88 runs partnership. yuvraj went out but Raina stood there for an illusive special century. Albie Morkel with the ball in hand in the 20th over, Suresh Raina reaches his maiden T20I century with a brilliant third ball six, becoming only the third batter in the T20Is to have a century in that format.
India put on the board a very competitive score of 185/5 in his 20 overs riding on Raina’s innings which South Africa failed to do ultimately India won the contest by 14 runs and also got their first-ever centurion.
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- Chase-master Virat Kohli chokes South Africa (2014)
Every time you count down India’s top moments, you get Virat Kohli in there, and this one is very special there. semifinal match vs South Africa 2014 in Mirpur (Bangladesh), Proteas put 172 on the board. It was a very competitive target when India lost Rohit Sharma early at the start of the innings.
Virat Kohli with his 72* of 44 balls was in his elements gunning that total down almost single-handedly. Suresh Raina gave India an excellent finishing touch of 10-balls-21. Virat finishes things off in the style and this was the moment for all Indian cricket fans.
- Hardik Pandya’s last over vs Bangladesh (2016)
The 2016 edition of the world cup was hosted by India and the stakes were high Especially for this game against Bangladesh which was a must-win match for team India to make it to the semifinals. Batting first, India couldn’t put a decent score on the board and ended up with 147 for 7. The bowlers kept it tight against Bangladesh, they kept India in the game till the last over.
Bangladesh needed 17 runs in the last two overs, Bumrah bowled the 19th over and conceded only 6 runs in that over and Hardik Pandya was now the only option for skipper MSD. He had 11 runs to defend, conceded 9 runs in the first 3 balls (1,4,4), and the next two balls- two wickets down for that heroic finish. 2 runs were needed to win for Bangladesh. Hardik bowled the last one slightly wide of the stumps and the batsman missed it, MSD was ready behind the wickets and sprinted to the stumps, and ran the batsman out, making this one of the most memorable moments for India.
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- Champions in the inaugural T20 World Cup (2007)
We can remember as many India moments as we can, but this is far more prominent or No. 1 of India’s top moments in T20 World Cup history. India, lifting the inaugural T20 World Cup title. India vs Pakistan in the final of the tournament without any big names in the biggest stages because a lot of big names sat out of the tournament and yet India was out for the fight.
Gautam Gambhir [75(54)] was good with the bat while India, batting first, posted a competitive total of 157. With the ball, Indian bowlers kept it tight for Pakistani batters. At one stage, Pakistan was 105 for 7 down, then Misbah-ul-Haq took the charge, and starts hitting the Indian bowlers, and the match went to the last over. Joginder Sharma bowled the last over for the Indian side, first ball was wide, the second ball was dot and the third went for six, which dashed India’s hopes.
Pakistan needed 6 runs on the next 4 balls Misbah ul Haq went for the scoop and the ball was in the air, Sreesanth was settling down under the ball and he took the catch. India won the match by 5 runs, becoming the first-ever World T20 champion. What a day it was, what a feeling it was, those memories remain very fresh in the minds of every Indian.
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