2007 T20 World Cup final – A night that changed the course of Indian cricket

For a generation that grew up watching cricket post-1983 would never know about how it felt to watch Kapil Dev and his teammates lift the World Cup in the Lord’s balcony on a historic English summer evening. The Misbah scoop that fell safely in the shivering hands of Sreesanth that handed India the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup would be their ‘Where were you when’ moment.

While T20Is were still in its nascent stage, India started lapping up the format with every Indian win as they made inroads in the tournament. The real fillip came through when India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in a never seen before bowl-out contest in the group stages. This heralded the birth of a new love - the T20 affair. The part-time bowlers, who took to bowl-out with their uncanny accuracy, the six sixes by Yuvraj Singh off Stuart Broad quickly became a big part of the Indian cricket's folklore.

With a wide and a six to follow in the first couple of balls of the over, half of India would have lost its breath and given up on the team. But then came the moment which has been replayed over and over again. An untimely, infamous, and unceremonious scoop from Misbah went up in the air, Shastri’s Adam’s apple came right out of his throat, his vocal chords literally tore up, half the country covered its face in their hands, some looked up, not at the ball but at the heavens with a desperate prayer on their lips, and Sreesanth caught the heaviest ever cricket ball on the field. India had won a World Cup! Dhoni, India’s new found 'Hercules', handed his jersey away to a young fan and walked around bare-chested, swelling up with immense pride and joy, which perhaps no shirt could have contained.

On the night of September 24, 2007, the fireworks lit up the Wanders sky, and the Dhoni’s "Youngistan" stood tall holding aloft the trophy, the image which has gone as one of the most iconic in the modern Indian cricket history. 10 years have gone by since then. Narratives have been subtly undergone a change so as to further romanticise the journey of a team no one gave a chance to be world champions.  

The same country, which was about 4 weeks ago, was threatening to lap up the format, embraced the T20 affair in a big way and heralded a new dawn in world cricket launching the Indian Premier League, which very soon became the centrepiece of the cricketing landscape. It acted more than just an undercurrent for the popularization of the sport. So, it is not at all a bad idea to remember where we were that day when the game was on ‘cause this truly is ours, and only our, “Where were you when” moment!