Relations between India and Pakistan were not as strained as it is today, social media warfare didn’t exist, fans from either side were largely cordial (though they remain incident-free in the stands even now). In those mellower times, players shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. Imagine the outrage today if a Pakistan captain made his Indian counterpart wait. MS Dhoni, new to his job as India captain, strode to the Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, Johannesburg, his silky locks still the rage. He was making his way for the official photoshoot the day before the 2007 World Twenty20 final against Shoaib Malik-captained Pakistan. Photographers were ready, the gleaming trophy for the inaugural World Twenty20 – the name of the tournament before it was rechristened in 2018 – was placed in position by officials and one captain had reached the square on time. Malik was nowhere to be seen. LIVE | India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup weather watch and build-up Murmurs began: Was Malik doing a Ganguly on Dhoni? Minutes ticked by, but it seemed like an hour. Dhoni made small talk. Malik not keeping his appointment didn’t seem to get under his skin. This was before the Captain Cool moniker stuck. Malik wasn’t playing mind games. He had received a phone call he had to take. General Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan president, wanted to wish his captain a day before the final. Once the president was done with the call, Malik was at the square in a jiffy. Dhoni and Malik beamed as they held the trophy between them with the towering statue of Madiba behind them. Shoaib Malik and MS Dhoni with the WorldTwenty20 trophy before the final. (AP Photo/File) In a little over 24 hours, Joginder Sharma, a surprise pick by Dhoni to bowl the last over, had only 13 runs to defend. But Jogi wasn’t entirely a left field choice. In the semifinal against Australia in Durban, Dhoni had thrown him into the deep-end. With a cushion of 22 runs, the military medium pacer scalped two Aussie batsmen to bowl India to a win. Two days later, when Misbah scooped to fine leg, those sitting high up in the second row of the press box, had to stand up and lean forward; first to see if there was a fielder in place and then to watch Sreesanth emerge from what seemed like nowhere to complete the famous catch. The Group game between the two arch-rivals earlier in the tournament at Kingsmead in Durban was a thriller too with India winning via a bowl-out which involved bowlers aiming at exposed stumps minus the batsman in a pre-Super Over era. Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa hit the stumps for India, while Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi missed for Pakistan.Story continues below this ad Malik was surprisingly candid during his post-match comments when he said the team realized a bowl-out would decide the winner only when the match was tied. Safe to say, not all teams were well-versed with the rules. The Indian team support staff, despite flying to South Africa after a long tour of England, quickly brushed up on the rules. Bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad made the batsmen try their hand at the bowl out. Why were Sehwag and Uthappa picked for the first-ever bowl out? Because they hit the stumps often during practice. Dhoni had a funny take, however. “Winning a cricket match 3-0, it doesn’t happen every time. I can tell my friends,” he said with a glint in the eye. Though he finished on the winning side, Dhoni wasn’t a fan of the bowl-out. Even before he earned his stripes as T20 captain, Dhoni was named ODI skipper in the midst of the World T20 when Rahul Dravid stepped down all of a sudden. The media scrum on tour cornered him after the day’s practice session. Dhoni relented with a couple of quotes along the lines of ‘I didn’t have time to think about it’. But there was hope of filing a bigger copy on the new captain if Dhoni came for the scheduled media briefing. Gautam Gambhir made an appearance. The questions and answers were quick because the newsmaker of the day was elsewhere. If only one could look into the future: Gambhir top-scoring with 75 from just 54 balls in the final against Pakistan.
When Shoaib Malik made MS Dhoni wait for a photoshoot; and why Sehwag and Uthappa were chosen for a tie-breaking bowl-out
