New Delhi, Oct 22 Misbah-ul-Haq would probably rue that run out for the rest of his life, while S. Sreesanth would cherish it like no other achievement in his professional career.
India were playing Pakistan in a Group D match of the inaugural edition of the ICC T20 World Cup in 2007 at Durban on September 14 and Misbah had brought the arch-rivals on the doorstep of victory with a patient 53.
Put to bat, India rode on Robin Uthappa's scintillating half-century and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 33 to post 141/9 in their 20 overs, with Mohammad Asif scalping four wickets for the arch-rivals.
Chasing the modest total, Pakistan were well in control of the match with Misbah cruising along nicely, but as fate would have it, he was run out on the last ball of the match and the teams were tied. With the tournament rules not allowing points to be shared, the game went into ‘bowl-out'.
Up until then, Misbah, then 33, had made a superb 53 from just 35 balls, and had emerged as an unlikely hero for his side after Shahid Afridi's dismissal, with Pakistan needing 39 from 15 balls. Undaunted by the seemingly hopeless situation, Misbah brought down the chase to just one run required from the last two deliveries.
Sreesanth decided to come round the wicket and delivered a dot ball. The right-arm pacer then bowled a short one that Misbah could only deflect to silly mid-off, giving him no chance to complete the single, thus tying the scores.
India's Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa were bang on target in the ‘bowl out', while Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi all missed the wicket by a fair distance as a packed stadium celebrated India's improbable win.
Earlier, in the run chase, the match swung wildly. Even though Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals, Misbah kept his side in the hunt.
The equation came down to 12 runs off the last six deliveries, and Sreesanth was handed the responsibility of bowling the last over. In the first five deliveries, Pakistan scored 11 runs and needed one run to win off the last delivery. Misbah then attempted a single, but Yuvraj Singh's throw caught him short of his crease.
Recalling the match, Robin Uthappa recently praised the leadership skills of Dhoni.
"I remember after we tied that game, we went to the dressing room and got to know that it's a 'bowl out', I went straight to MS (Dhoni), and I said 'Bro, I've to bowl,' (in the bowl-out) and he didn't even bat an eyelid. He just said yeah, OK, you'll bowl," said Uthappa.
"And for me when I look back at it in retrospect makes me understand the kind of leader he was. He is the kind of guy when you're really sure about your skills and your own ability, he backs it. And he backed it in his first game as captain," he added.
The push the side got following the Group win helped India win the final against Shoaib Malik's side in Johannesburg on September 24.
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