“MS Dhoni gave the ball to Joginder Sharma because senior players refused to bowl in 2007 T20 World Cup final,” Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik makes big revelation
Joginder Sharma had to defend 13 runs off the last over of the final and he won India the game by dismissing Misbah ul Haq
The former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has revealed that none of the senior Indian players was ready to bowl the last over of the T20 World Cup 2007 final to Misbah ul Haq and it was only when all the senior players refused, Dhoni had to turn to his most inexperienced option Joginder Sharma.
Shoaib Malik was speaking on A Sports ahead of the final of the T20 World Cup 2022 between England and Pakistan and he recalled the first-ever edition of the tournament 15 years back where he was the captain of Pakistan and India beat Pakistan in a close final by 5 runs.
Going into the last over of that final, Pakistan needed 13 runs to win the match and although they had just one wicket in hand, the game could still have gone either way because Misbah ul Haq was at the crease and he was hitting the ball clean and hard.
Wouldn’t name the senior players who refused to bowl: Shoaib Malik
According to Malik, he wouldn’t name those senior players of India who refused to bowl the last over, but Dhoni gave the ball to Joginder Sharma only when the seniors refused. Malik also said that Misbah probably wouldn’t have played the scoop shot that he played if Pakistan had more than one wicket in hand, because then he would have looked to play straight.
Shoaib Malik – "In the final of 2007's T20 WorldCup, there were three indian bowlers who declined MS Dhoni to bowl the last over to Misbah UlHaq because Misbah was hitting sixes everywhere in the stadium." #T20WorldCupFinal
— Arfa Feroz Zake (@ArfaSays_) November 12, 2022
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Misbah, who was himself present in the show, said that the whole idea behind playing the scoop was that the short fine leg fielder was up and he knew if he could clear that fielder and get 4 runs, the Indian captain Dhoni would have to bring the field up and then he would finish the game, but it didn’t happen.
Misbah ended up mistiming that scoop shot and the catch was held at short fine leg by S Sreesanth, as India won the first-ever edition of the T20 World Cup in South Africa.
