This Is How Mastermind Dhoni Strategy Helped India Win 2007 Bowl-Out VS Pakistan

MS Dhoni, the former captain of the Indian cricket team is one of the best captains of all time. The men in blue were blessed with their captain cool as it was under his leadership that India won several major tournaments. Be it the winning of the 2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 ICC ODI World Cup, or 2013 ICC Champions Trophy it was all possible due to the sheer efforts of the whole team and the brilliant guidance of MSD. Read on to know about how Dhoni talked about team India preparing for bowl-out ahead of the 2007 T20 World Cup.

India and Pakistan face-off in the 2007 T20 World Cup

The 2007 T20 World Cup was a special one as it was the first ICC event in the shortest format. Here, India faced Pakistan twice. First in the group match and second, of course, was the finals and both times India defeated Pakistan in nerve-wracking innings.

While the final match is remembered for the superb catch of Misbah-ul-Haq that was taken by Sreesanth on the bowling of Joginder Sharma, the group match is remembered because of the bowl-out that happened for the first time in the history of T20 cricket.

What is a Bowl-Out?

In today’s modern time, a Super Over takes place in order to settle down a T20 match that gets tied. However, in earlier times, bowl-out was used in order to give out the result after the match ended in a tie. In a bowl-out, five players from both playing sides had to bowl at three stumps, and the team which used to get the most hits was declared the winner. What is interesting to note is that the hitting used to happen without batters.

India VS Pakistan group match that made it possible for the bowl-out to happen

The group match took place on September 14, 2007, in Durban. After winning the toss Pakistan chose to ball first. Pakistan bowler Mohammad Asif took 4 major wickets of the top order. Nonetheless, India managed to score 141/9 with the help of Robin Uthappa’s 50 and MS Dhoni’s 33. Pakistan was of course in a better position however, the run-out of Misbah-ul-Haq on the last ball of the innings was a game changer. It paved for the bowl-out to happen.

During the time of bowl-out, the Indian stars who hit the stump were Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, and Robin Uthappa while Pakistani cricketers Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, and Shahid Afridi were the ones who missed the stumps. With 3-0, the winning of the men in blue was made possible.

✅ @virendersehwag
❌ @YasArafat12
✅ @harbhajan_singh
❌ @mdk_gul
✅ @robbieuthappa
❌ @SAfridiOfficial#OnThisDay in 2007 India v Pakistan at #WT20 finished in a tie… and India won the bowl-out! pic.twitter.com/sN2dZMyLN2

— ICC (@ICC) September 14, 2018

In an old video, MSD shares how team India preparing for bowl-out ahead of the 2007 T20 World Cup

In an old video that is going viral, MSD shares that bowl-out was a new thing as it was taking place for the first time. The men in blue never practiced for it before. Therefore, ahead of the 2007 T20 World Cup, they made it a point to start their practice with bowl-out, be it before warm-up or after warm-up. The reason was that deep down they knew that they might face such a situation in which the match got tied and then the teams would have to play bowl-out in order to get the final result.

MSD further added in the video that, bowl-out was not necessarily meant for bowlers. It was more about who hit the stumps the most number of times during the practice sessions. Those were the players who used to get the preference. He never anticipated that it would be Pakistan against whom they would get to play bowl-out in the tournament.

How MS Dhoni prepared the Indian team for a potential bowl out in the 2007 T20 World Cup 🔥

The bowl out between India and Pakistan took place #OnThisDay that year 🙌 pic.twitter.com/oOkPO15hXH

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) September 14, 2022

Robin Uthappa revealed MS Dhoni’s moment of brilliance during the bowl-out as he said,

“The Pakistan wicket keeper Kamran Akmal was standing where a WK usually stands, but MS Dhoni was sitting right behind the stumps that made it so much easier for us.”

The best thing about Mahi is that he was always ready for all kinds of situations. He never used to give up and used to give his best, both as a player and as a captain. What makes everyone miss him more is that after 2013, India has not won any ICC tournament.