On September 14, 2007: India Thrashes Pakistan in an Epic Bowl-Out Clash

11 years ago in 2007, precisely, on this day (September 14), an epic clash between India and Pakistan took place. It was the first-ever Twenty20 International World Cup to be played in the International cricket, and it has seen all kinds of dramatic stuff in it including a bowl-out.

Gone are those days, where the T20 format is still in the developing stage. Before the emergence of super over for the tied games, both the teams used to involve in duel named ”Bowl-out” to announce the winner.

Ironically or else thankfully, it took place between two greatest entertainers and arch-rivals of the game, India and Pakistan.

As it happened:

It was the 10th match in the ICC World Cup 2007. Pakistan won the toss and asked Team India to bat first. Justifying the toss,  Pakistan got the fruitful results with the dangerous trio Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh walking back to the hut in quick succession.

Though the scorecard read 19 for three, it was Robin Uthappa, who took the onus on him to guide the team to a decent total. He scored a 39-ball fifty while Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Irfan Pathan scored 33 and 21 on a tough batting surface. Mohammed Asif finished with a four-wicket haul.

In reply, India got Imran Nazir for a cheap score, but Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal looked solid in their defence.

However, Ajit Agarkar broke the little partnership, and Yuvraj Singh’s brilliance in the field sent Kamran Akmal back.

Shoaib Malik too failed to carry-on the good start. Just when things completely looked in control for India, Misbah ul Haq showed a great display of T20 batting. He smashed Indian bowlers to all corners of the park and almost brought a ball in Pakistan’s court.

However, when it required 12 runs off six balls, S Sreesanth delivered a masterpiece to draw the game from the jaws of losing.

Bowl-out – India – 3; Pakistan – 0

After the tied game, the officials decided to announce the winner based on the bowl-out. Indians started off the proceedings with Virender Sehwag, who was right on the money to bag the first point for India.

Pakistan started with Yasir Arafat, who missed his radar completely. Indian turned to Harbhajan Singh for the second turn who did it with utmost grace and sent Pakistan on the backfoot.

This time, Pakistan sent their best man Umar Gul to do the job. However, he missed it by a country mile giving India a great advantage.

Surprisingly, India opted for Uthappa in the third shot, who did it with the perfection and his celebration after it is a worth watching.

As was the final chance to compete, Pakistan asked Shahid Afridi to do the job. However, he too ended up missing the stumps thus giving  India a memorable victory.

Here is the video of India vs Pakistan bowl-out clash:

✅ @virendersehwag
❌ @YasArafat12
✅ @harbhajan_singh
❌ @mdk_gul
✅ @robbieuthappa
❌ @SAfridiOfficial#OnThisDay in 2007 India v Pakistan at #WT20 finished in a tie… and India won the bowl-out! pic.twitter.com/sN2dZMyLN2

— ICC (@ICC) September 14, 2018