For 24 Years the unexpected history in the world cup in England in 1983 stood as the pinnacle of achievement in Indian cricket.Thereafter Indian teams flattered only to deceive in every world cup culminating and during the Caribbean world cup when a hyped-up up Indian team was shockingly eliminated in the preliminary stage itself and after six months an enthusiastic team was formed under the skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for which India became triumphant in the inaugural Twenty-20 world cup in South Africa in 2007.
Indians became victorious after a nail biting five run victory over Pakistan in the final at Johannesburg on September 24 in 2007.The general view of Twenty-20 about Indians was that they would be eliminated at super eight since they didn’t got enough experience in Twenty-20 and the team consisted of only young blood.The Indians were placed in the preliminary group of Pakistan and Scotland and they were qualified for the second stage which involved a pulsating tie with Pakistan that they both ended with 141 in 20 overs.
India went down at New Zealand in the opening match of super eight but they came back strongly against England and South Africa to qualify for the semifinals.Here they came up face to face against Australia and played to their high potential and defeated the Australians by 15 runs to make it to the title clash against Pakistan.
This match was turned out to be a great entertainer at the Wanderers stadium at Johannesburg in which a crowd of thousands at the stadium and millions of people watching through the TV by holding their breath.The match was marked by fluctuating fortunes before India emerged Triumphant.Predictably enough there was rejoicing all over India and crackers and bonfires were lit while fans danced through out the night.The heroes were taken in an open bus from the airport to the Wankhede stadium in Bombay where there was a grand felicitation function and they were the recipients of several prizes by the BCCI(Board of control of cricket in India) and also by the state government.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni became an inspirational leader and was called as the “Captain Cool” as he was labeled for keeping calm and composed during the stressed conditions in the field.Vice captain Yuvraj Singh was in superb form as he hit 6 sixes in an over against England.Other notable players in the triumph were Robin Uthappa,Gautham Ghambir,Rohit sharma,Rudra Pratap Singh,Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan.
