How India lined up in their first ever T20I 

On 1st December 2006, the Men in Blue played their first ever T20I game. The game was held at the Wanderers in Johannesburg against the Proteas, and was scheduled between the 4th and 5th ODI.

There wasn't much fuss related to the match as people were more concerned about winning a Test series in South Africa.

11 years ago, there were many misconceptions regarding the format as some experts thought that T20 cricket wasn't cricket at all, and many called it a "hit out or get out" sort of game. As T20s became popular with time, they were proved wrong, and the format won millions of hearts.

The match itself turned to be a low-scoring affair and the visitors won the game by 6 wickets, courtesy the heroics from Dinesh Karthik towards the end of the innings. It was the dawn of a new era in Indian cricket, and currently T20 is a major format as far as Indian cricket is concerned.

Here is how India lined up for that game:

#1 Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag

Sehwag led the side in India's inaugural T20I game in the absence of regular skipper Rahul Dravid, who opted not to play the shortest format of the game. He took his team off to a sublime start, and played a vital knock of 34 runs, taking the attack to the bowlers quite early in the innings.

#2 Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar

This game turned out to be the Master's first and last T20I game as he decided to give the youngsters an opportunity to make a name for themselves. He couldn't express himself with the bat, but to his credit, he contributed with an important wicket of Justin Kemp.

#3 Dinesh Mongia

Dinesh Mongia

This was the first and last T20I for the left-handed all-rounder as well. He played a decent knock of 38 runs, and anchored the innings from one end, and made sure that the visitors got closer to the target.

#4 MS Dhoni

M.S. Dhoni

Dhoni didn't have a good outing with the bat in his T20I debut, and got out without troubling the scorers, but who knew that he would bring his country a World Cup in the shortest format within a year's time?

#5 Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik

The wicket-keeper batsman from Tamil Nadu turned out to be the hero of the match as he stayed at the crease till the end, and guided India to an impressive 6-wicket victory. India required 9 runs off 6 deliveries, and he smashed Robin Peterson out of the park in the very first delivery of the last over, sealing it for his side.

#6 Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina

The left-hander didn't play a massive role with the bat as the target wasn't too big, and three knocks of over 30 had ensured that the visitors reached home safely. However, he developed himself into a tremendous T20 batsman, and became the first Indian to score a T20I.

#7 Irfan Pathan

Irfan Pathan

Irfan didn't have a satisfactory outing with the ball, and proved to be quite expensive.

#8 Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh

Being an off-spinner, he bowled quite well in the highveld where the ball doesn't turn much, and the spinners go the distance. He ended up with figures of 22/1 in 3 overs, picking up the wicket of Johan van der Wath.

#9 Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan

The left-arm fast bowler had a scintillating start to his T20I career, picking up 2 crucial wickets, one of those being South African skipper Graeme Smith. He only conceded 15 runs in his quota of 4 overs which proved to be a match-winning spell.

#10 Ajit Agarkar

Ajit Agarkar

Ajit Agarkar had a decent time with the ball, picking up the decisive wickets of AB de Villiers and Herschelle Gibbs, conceding just 10 runs in 2.3 overs. It was towards the end of his career though and he went on to play 3 more games for his side.

#11 S. Sreesanth

S. Sreesanth

Sreesanth was pretty impressive in the tour, particularly in the Tests, but on that day, he didn't have a good outing with the ball, conceding 33 runs in his quota of 4 overs, and picking up the lone wicket of Albie Morkel.