The famous catch of Shantakumaran Sreesanth in the 2007 World T20 final is still fresh in every Indian cricket lover’s mind. In a tournament where no one really gave India a chance, they came out with flying colours under the captaincy of the inexperienced MS Dhoni.
Dhoni was handed the captaincy of the Indian team for the very first time in the tournament and he responded in terrific fashion. Just two years into his international career, Captain Cool did a brilliant job and his decisions taken in the tournament are now a piece of history. To give the final over to the relatively inexperienced Joginder Sharma in place of Harbhajan Singh was a very bold move and as they say fortune favours the brave. Lady Luck did shine brightly on MS Dhoni and he became only the 2nd Indian captain to win a World Cup for India.
The scenario of the present Indian cricket would have been very different if that hadn’t happened. It was the man who was allegedly involved in match fixing in IPL who caught Misbah-ul-Haq in the final over of the match, a catch that shattered the dreams of Pakistan.
In the debut of the Sportskeeda ‘What if’ series, we list down 5 things that might not have happened had Sreesanth dropped the catch. In the future, we will revisit a number of such moments, and see how they could have changed the course of history.
#1 No MS Dhoni movie
The most anticipated movie of the year, MS Dhoni the Untold Story, is all set to hit the theatres on 30th September. All the Dhoni fans and haters are looking forward to watching this film as it will reveal some astonishing facts about the flamboyant Jharkhand lad.
The movie depicts the life story of Dhoni, covering minute details that fans would not know about. From being a ticket collector at Kharagpur in 2001 to becoming the 2nd Indian captain to win a World Cup in 2007, Dhoni’s life has been a fairytale. His hard work, passion and luck were instrumental in his immense success as an Indian skipper.
Now, what would have happened if Sreesanth had missed Misbah’s catch? Though we cannot guarantee that Dhoni wouldn’t have been a star if that hadn’t happened, it is unlikely that without the T20 success in 2007 Dhoni would stand where he is now. And it is also unlikely that a movie on the Indian limited overs captain would have been made.
#2 Misbah-ul-Haq would have done push-ups sooner
In the recently concluded Test series between England and Pakistan, Misbah-ul-Haq became the oldest cricketer to score a Test century. He celebrated his century by doing 10 push-ups, which were a tribute to those army men who worked tirelessly for the country.
Pakistan came into the series as firm underdogs but proved their critics wrong as they went on to notch a famous victory in the 1st Test at the Mecca of Cricket, Lord’s. After the win, the whole Pakistan team celebrated their victory by doing push-ups in front of the famous Lord’s balcony, a gesture that wasn’t received well by the opposition captain Alastair Cook.
Now if Sreesanth had dropped the former’s catch in the final of the T20 World Cup, when Misbah was still a relative newcomer to the international arena, the Pakistani would have become a national hero instantly. He would have been catapulted into fame and we might have seen him do the pushups right then. Certainly, we wouldn’t have had to wait 9 years for it.
#3 Pakistan would have broken the India World Cup jinx
The Men in Blue have beaten Pakistan in each and every World Cup match till date, be it 50 overs World Cup or a T20 World Cup. Since 1992 Pakistan have lost 6 World Cup matches and 4 T20 World Cup matches to India. Their most recent encounter was in the 2016 World T20 in India.
Though Pakistan have a very good record against India in ODIs, they have found it impossible to beat them in any World Cup competition. Whether it is the pressure of an Indo-Pak match or the history of the World Cup matches between the arch-rivals, Pakistan have always struggled against the Men in Blue as far as World Cup cricket is concerned.
Misbah-ul-Haq was the man who almost broke the jinx for Pakistan in the 2007 T20 World Cup but eventually failed on both the occasions. In the group stage match, he almost finished off the match for Pakistan but was run out when the scores were level. India eventually won the match via a bowl-out.
In the final, he was the lone warrior on the battlefield as he kept losing his partners at the other end while chasing a target of 157. He ran Pakistan agonizingly close to India’s total but was eventually dismissed by Joginder Sharma in the final over of the match, giving India a victory by 5 runs.
#4 IPL wouldn’t have existed
One of the biggest cricketing events in the calendar year now is the Indian Premier League which takes place every year in the month of April and May. The tournament has been a star attraction for people all over the world and even the people who don't follow cricket that much remain glued to the television sets whenever an IPL match of their favourite team is going on.
The tournament kick started in the year 2008 as Brendon McCullum’s whirlwind 158 in the inaugural match of the IPL paved the way for much more success in the later years. Eight years down the line, the IPL is still the biggest domestic T20 tournament in the world.
But if India hadn’t won the T20 World Cup in 2007, it is highly unlikely that T20 cricket would have been so popular; the tournament wouldn’t have existed without India’s success. The success of India in the T20 World Cup was one of the major reasons why the Indian Premier League came into existence and became so popular.
#5 No “Mauka Mauka” advertisements
One of the funniest and most entertaining advertisements in India, “Mauka Mauka” became viral before the start of the 2015 World Cup. In the commercial, we can see a Pakistani fan ready with fire crackers before every Indo-Pak World Cup encounter since 1992, but is unable to burn them as Pakistan loses each and every World Cup match against India.
The guy is seen getting frustrated after Pakistan loses the semi-final against India in the 2011 World Cup and says, “Kab Phodenge Yaar?” (when will we get a chance to burn the crackers?).
If India wouldn’t have won the T20 World Cup in 2007, we could have been deprived of one of the most amazing and entertaining sporting ads of all time.
So even though Sreesanth is a blacklisted player now, we shouldn’t forget the fact that the history of India cricket would have been very different if he had missed the catch.
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