Zeecric Bureau
Johannesburg, Sept 24:India trampled Pakistan by 5 runs to lift the Twenty20 World Cup trophy at Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Monday. Mahendra Dhoni’s team displayed a marvelous performance in the field with bowlers and fielders clicking at right time. India brought another World Cup after 24 years and BCCI announced a reward of USD 2 million for Team India and a reward for Rs 1 crore for Yuvraj Singh.
India bowled splendidly with RP Singh, Irfan Pathan, Joginder Sharma firing all cylinders against Pakistan. Defending a modest total of 157 runs, Indian bowlers were aggressive right from start.
RP Singh provided the first breakthrough to India as he struck right in his first over. Mohammad Hafeez edged Singh’s ball straight into the hands of Robin Uthappa standing at slips. Pakistan lost their first wicket with just two runs on board.
Soon after, Kamran Akmal was dismissed as RP struck again in his second over. Singh swung the ball into the right armer Akmal which the batsman missed completely. Pakistan lost their second wicket with scorecard reading 26 for 2 in 2.3 overs.
Imran Nazir then hammered Indian bowlers all over the ground and soon Pakistan were cruising as they crossed 50 run mark in 6th over with the loss of 2 wickets.
But a splendid direct hit from Robin Uthappa ended Nazir’s run at Wanderers. Nazir was caught napping way outside the crease. Nazir was run out on the score of 33 runs from 14 balls.
Younis Khan became another casualty to marvelous Indian bowling as he tried to slog Joginder Sharma’s delivery which went straight into the hands of Yusuf Pathan. Younis departed for 24 runs off 24 balls.
Then Irfan Pathan struck twice in his first over as Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi were sent of in a hurry. Pathan struck on 3rd and 5th ball of his over to dismiss the two batsmen. While Shoaib made just 8 runs, Afridi was out on duck.
Pathan struck again in his last over as Yasir Arafat was clean bowled. Pakistan were tottering at 104 for 7 in 16 overs.
Misbah-ul-Haq then hammered Harbhajan’s 17th over for three sixes to close in the gap.
Victory looked certain for Pakistan as Sohail Tanvir too got into groove with two sixes of Sreesanth’s 18th over. India-Pakistan match went down to the wire as India’s rivals required 13 runs from the last over. Misbah-ul-Haq then hammered a six of Joginder Sharma’s last over. Pakistan now required 6 runs from 4 balls.
Misbah-ul-Haq then tried to chip the ball with a scoop over short fine leg. The ball went in the air and straight into the hands of Sreesanth. Pakistan were all out for 152 runs.
Earlier, India were able to post a modest total of 157 runs against Pakistan. Indian top order crumbled under the fiery attack of Pakistan seamers. But it was a hard fought innings of 75 runs from Gautam Gambhir that boosted Indian total to a modest score.
India were in a huge trouble against Pakistan right from the start as they lost too many wickets. India lost their first wicket as Yusuf Pathan was dismissed in the third over of the inning. Shoaib Malik took an easy catch on mid-on as Mohammad Asif bowled a short delivery to Pathan. Pathan departed after hammering a six and a four.
India then lost another wicket in Sohail Tanvir’s third over as Robin Uthappa was caught by Shahid Afridi. India were two wickets down with 40 runs on board in 6 overs.
First 50 came up for India in 7.4 overs as Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir steadied Indian innings. Both Yuvraj and Gambhir pelted fours and sixes to bring India back on track.
Another 33 balls later, India crossed 100 run mark in 13.1 overs. But in the same over India lost the key wicket of Yuvraj Singh who gave an easy catch to Umar Gul. Gul bowled a short delivery to Yuvraj which the batsman top edged to give the ball straight into the bowler’s hand. Yuvraj made 14 runs from 19 balls.
After Yuvraj, it was Indian captain Mahendra Dhoni’s turn to head back to the dug out. Dhoni was clean bowled by Umar Gul when he was playing on 6. India were in deep trouble as half of their side was back to the dug out with the scorecard reading just above 110 runs in 16 overs.
Last one to go was in form batsman Gautam Gambhir who departed as he was caught by Mohammad Asif. Gambhir made an extraordinary 74 off just 54 balls.
India batted for full twenty overs but lost 5 wickets and were restricted by Pakistan to 157 runs.
India earlier won the toss and elected to bat against Pakistan. Yusuf Pathan replaced Sehwag who was kept out of the Indian squad. For Pakistan, Yasir Arafat replaced Fawad Alam in the squad.
