Remember the final tense moments of the 2007 T20 World Cup final between India and Pakistan when Misbah-ul-Haq almost took his side close to the victory but how his one mistake changed the final result.
It was on the third ball of the final over when Joginder Sharma bowled a slower delivery outside the off-stump and Misbah went for a risky scoop shot over short fine-leg as the ball went straight up in the air to land in the hands of S. Sreesanth.
Recalling that historic moment and the World Cup winning-catch, Robin Uthappa said that he was not sure of Sreesanth taking that catch at that crucial stage because he was known for dropping absolute sitters until then.
“At the beginning of the over, I was at long-on. I remember Jogi bowling a wide on the first ball and I was like ‘man!’ I was praying. Every ball, from 15th over onwards, I was just praying ‘just get us through,” Uthappa said.
“He bowled a wide first ball, and I was like ‘okay, let it not go for a six now’. Then he got hit for a six. And I was like, ‘come on, we can still do this’. Even in that situation, Pakistan had all the momentum going their way, I was backing our team,” Uthappa said.
“Misbah hit a scoop shot, and I saw it going pretty high. I noticed that it wasn’t going really far. Then I saw who the fielder at short fine-leg was, and I saw it was Sreesanth. By that point, within the team, he was known for dropping catches, especially the easiest ones. I have seen him drop absolute sitters.”
“As soon as I saw Sreesanth, I started running towards the wickets, and I started praying ‘please god, let him hold on to this one’. If you look at him taking that catch, you can see that when the ball actually entered his hands, he is looking up there (laughs). So, I still truly believe it was nothing but destiny that won us that World Cup,” he added.
India had defeated Pakistan by 5 runs to win the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup and the victory came after India faced an embarrassing group-stage exit in 2007 50-overs World Cup in West Indies.
