'Harbhajan Singh Would've Bowled The Final Over'- RP Singh Discusses MS Dhoni's 'Miscalculation' In The Championship Game Against Pakistan
Published - 04 Feb 2023, 01:11 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:15 AM
Many people consider MS Dhoni to be one of the best cricket captains in history. In his very first assignment as captain, the former India captain led a somewhat inexperienced team to triumph at the first T20 World Cup. He later went on to guide India to victories at the ODI World Cup in 2011 and the Champions Trophy two years later.
Rudra Pratap Singh, a former India pacer who was a member of the winning squad and competed in the T20 World Cup final against Pakistan, made a significant disclosure concerning MS Dhoni’s “miscalculation” in the match years after India’s victory.
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MS Dhoni Used To Believe 20th Over Isn’t Important As The Previous: RP Singh
Given that Misbah-ul-Haq was playing a risky shot for Pakistan, the Indian captain MS Dhoni made the unusual decision to hand Joginder Sharma the last over of the game. Joginder, though, had upheld the captain’s confidence and earned India a five-run victory.
Harbahajan and Joginder were the two options, and according to RP Singh, who took three wickets in the match, the decision to go with the former was made incorrectly owing to the latter’s pricey stats.
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“Dhoni used to believe that 20th over isn’t as important as the 17th, 18th, and 19th. Misbah was playing really good that time. Harbhajan usually used to bowl the 17th over and more often than not, get us a breakthrough there. But Misbah was in some different touch that day. So there, it was a miscalculation,” RP Singh said during his commentary stint at the SA20 league.
“Harbhajan couldn’t complete his overs. I had to bowl the 19th over, Sreesanth had to bowl before me. We had two options, either go with Harbhajan or Joginder. Misbah was batting good and if it was a left-handed batter, then Harbhajan would’ve bowled the final over. Since it was a right-handed batter, Joginder was given the ball,” RP Singh further said.
After MS Dhoni decided to bat in Johannesburg, India managed a respectable score of 157/5 in 20 overs, with Gautam Gambhir striking a heroic 75. Though Pakistan needed six runs to win off four deliveries, Misbah-ul-Haq’s (43 off 38 balls) efforts were in vain since he opted to try a scoop shot. Sreesanth, who was positioned at the short-fine leg, grabbed a simple catch to give India the victory.
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