5 instances when underdogs stunned the world in ICC tournaments

Pakistan v India - World T20 Final

#4 India – World Twenty20, South Africa in 2007

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 witnessed a number of upsets. India and Pakistan suffered early exits in the tournament after facing defeats against minnows like Bangladesh and Ireland.

But that pain was short-lived with the introduction of ICC’s World Twenty20 Championship in the same year. MS Dhoni was inducted as the captain of a young Indian side when stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Sourav Ganguly chose to stay out of the T20 format.

Many cricketing pundits opined that choosing Dhoni as a captain of the side and that too with a bunch of new players may backfire, and that India could face an early exit similar to their World Cup 2007 misery. But that was not to be.

In the league stages, India’s match against Scotland was washed out while they managed to steal a victory against arch-rivals Pakistan in T20 cricket’s first ever bowl-out.

8 teams made it to the super-eight. After facing defeat at the hands of the Kiwis, India fought back to win against England and South Africa in 2 consecutive days.

In the match against England, Yuvraj Singh became the first player in history to hit 6 sixes in an over, off the bowling of Stuart Broad. Rohit Sharma scored a fine 50 against South Africa to ensure India made it to the semis.

In the semi-final against Australia, Yuvraj Singh again appeared in the spotlight by scoring a quick-fire 70 off 30 balls. Sreesanth too joined the party, taking 2 wickets for 12 runs. Ultimately, chasing 188 proved too many for the mighty Australians and they fell short by 15 runs.

The fans couldn’t have asked for a better match when India and Pakistan made it to the final. After a fine cameo by Gautam Gambhir, India posted a total of 157 runs. In reply, Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals but Misbah-ul-Haq held his nerves till the last over of the match.

With 1 wicket in hand, Pakistan needed 12 runs off the last over. Surprisingly, instead of Harbhajan Singh, who still had 1 over left in his quota, Dhoni went to the inexperienced Joginder Sharma to bowl the last over.

Misbah played a dot ball, then hit a massive six, but it was the scoop shot off the third delivery that led to Pakistan’s downfall. Sreesanth took a simple catch and India won the inaugural World Twenty20 by 5 runs.