T20 World Cup 2007

The inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup was staged in South Africa between September 11-24 2007.

The T20 World Cup 2007 was a 12-team affair comprising 10 ICC Full Member Nations and two Associate Sides, Kenya and Scotland, - which was staged at three venues - Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg.

The tournament was won by the MS Dhoni-led Indian team following a thrilling final against arch-rivals Pakistan at the Wanderers on September 24, 2007.

T20 World Cup 2007 Venues

T20 World Cup 2007 - (Teams and Squads)

Australia:

Bangladesh:

India:

England:

Pakistan:

New Zealand:

South Africa:

Sri Lanka:

Kenya:

Zimbabwe:

West Indies:

Scotland:

Click here for the T20 World Cup 2007 final.

T20 World Cup 2007 League - (Groups)

In the T20 World Cup 2007, 12 teams were divided across four groups - A, B, C, D with every side playing each other once.

Two sides from each group qualified for the second round, where teams were divided in two groups of four each.

T20 World Cup 2007- Schedule

Check out for the latest updates for the T20 World Cup 2022 here.

T20 World Cup 2007- Group Stages

Group A

Chris Gayle's blistering 100 lit up the T20 World Cup on its debut night against hosts South Africa on September 11, 2007. But Herschelle Gibbs' counter-attacking knock saw the Proteas win the game.

The West Indies then went on to lose their second match aagainst Bangladesh and were eliminated. South Africa topped the group following another clinical win over Bangladesh.

Group B

Group B started with a huge upset as Zimbabwe defeated the mighty Australians by five wickets at Newlands, Cape Town.

However, Australia returned with vengeance as they beat England by eight wickets to boost their net run rate (NRR). With England beating Zimbabwe, the Ashes rivals leapfrogged the African nation in the standings, thanks to their superior NRR.

Group C

In Group C, New Zealand and Sri Lanka thumped Kenya to qualify for the next roubd.

Sri Lanka smashed a world-record total of 260/6 against Kenya and the Mahela Jayawardene-led unit went on to top their group, thanks to their seven-wicket win over the Kiwis.

Group D

In Group D, arch-rivals India and Pakistan prevailed over Scotland to enter the next stage, but not before they dished out a game for the ages at Kingsmead, Durban on September 14, 2007.

Pakistan came into the high-voltage game on the back of a 51-run win over Scotland, while India's opening game against the Scots ended in a no-result owing to persistent rain.

It all boiled down to the showdown between the arch-rivals in the final game of the Group.

India recovered from a perilous position of 19/3 to post 141/9, before restricting Pakistan to the exact same score, following Misbah-ul-Haq’s run out on the final delivery of the innings.

The tie was decided via bowl-out, where India, courtesy of Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa, trumped Pakistan to claim a stunning 3-0 win.

T20 World Cup 2007- Super-8

The Super 8 stage of T20 World Cup 2007 consisted of two Groups - E & F - with four teams each.

Group E consisted of India, New Zealand, South Africa, and England while Group F had Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka

Group E

Group E kicked off with India losing to New Zealand by 10 runs and England succumbing to South Africa by 19 runs at Johannesburg and Cape Town, respectively.

England were knocked out following a defeat to the Blackcaps by five runs in their second fixture, while South Africa consolidated their spot through a six-wicket win over New Zealand.

For India, the equation was simple. They had to win both their games and by handsome margins to sneak into the semi-finals.

They thumped England in their next game by 18 runs thanks to a century opening stand between Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir and a world-record 12-ball half-century from Yuvraj Singh, which included six consecutive sixes off seamer Stuart Broad.

In their next game, India were up against the hosts. But Dhoni and Co. were dealt a blow as Yuvraj was ruled out of the fixture due to back spasm.

This opened up the door for an 18-year-old Rohit Sharma, who grabbed his chance with both hands, smashing an unbeaten 40-ball 50* to lift India to 153/5 in 20 overs.

For South Africa to qualify, they had to score more than 126, but the hosts wilted under a masterclass in swing bowling from RP Singh (4/13 in 4 overs) and S Sreesanth (2/23 in 4 overs) and could only manage 116/9.

This meant that South Africa, which had not dropped a match prior to this game, were dumped out of the competition, with India and New Zealand trumping the Proteas on NRR.

Group F

Group F was dominated by Pakistan as the Shoaib Malik-led unit claimed three victories in as many games, including a six-wicket victory over the mighty Aussies.

Australia, on the other hand, saw off Bangladesh by nine wickets, thanks to a hat-trick from superstar pacer Brett Lee, before coming up short against Pakistan.

They eventually booked their semi-final spot by beating Sri Lanka by 10 wickets, who ended up losing two of their three Super 8 fixtures by heavy margins.

Pakistan and Australia qualified for the semi-finals, where they faced New Zealand and India, respectively.

T20 World Cup 2007- Semi-finals

1st S/F: Pakistan v New Zealand, Newlands, CapeTown

The first semi-final proved to be more or less a repeat of the 1999 50-over World Cup semi-final clash between these two sides as Pakistan saw off the Blackcaps easily to claim their spot in the final of T20 World Cup 2007.

Bowling first at Newlands, Pakistan restricted New Zealand to 143/8 in 20 overs. The main wrecker-in-chief was pacer Umar Gul, who registered brilliant figures of (3/15 in 4). He was abely supported by the spin duo of Fawad Alam and (2/29 in 4) and Shahid Afridi (1/24 in 4).

For New Zealand, Ross Taylor played the most impactful knock- a 23-ball 37* with the help of two fours and as many sixes.

As it turned out, it did not matter in the end as Pakistan breezed past the target with six wickets in hand, following brilliant knocks from Imran Nazir (59 off 41), Mohammad Hafeez (32 off 21) and skipper Shoaib Malik, who remained unbeaten on 14-ball 26.

2nd S/F- India v Australia, Kingsmead, Durban

Yuvraj Singh had already set the stage on fire in the T20 World Cup 2007 after he smashed Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over in the Super 8 game against England.

A few days later, the stylish southpaw went one step ahead as he bludgeoned the Australians to the tune of a brutal 30-ball 70. Yuvraj had walked in the middle after India lost their second wicket in the form of Gautam Gambhir (24 off 25) with just 41 runs on the board in eight overs.

What followed next was absolute mayhem as Yuvraj flicked, cut, and pulled his way to a game-changing knock. He was abely supported by Robin Uthappa (34 off 28) and MS Dhoni (36 off 18) as India ended up with 188/5 in 20 overs.

Defending 189, S Sreesanth (2/12 in 4) got India off to a brilliant start as he knocked over Adam Gilchrist's middle-stump in the 6th over.

Irfan Pathan backed it up by getting rid of Brad Hodge (11 off 10) cheaply but legendary opener Matthew Hayden (62 off 47) and the late great all-rounder Andrew Symonds (43 off 26) got stuck into the Indians.

The duo hammered 66 runs in just six overs to take Australia to 134/2 in the 15th over. But just as it looked as if Australia would run away from the game, Sreesanth and Pathan struck back as they sent both Hayden and Symonds packing in the next two overs.

Harbhajan Singh joined the act by knocking over Michael Clarke with a yorker as Australia went from being 134/2 to 159/5 in no time.

RP Singh then delivered a decisive penultimate over, where he conceded just five runs against Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin, leaving 22 in the bank for Joginder Sharma.

Sharma ended up conceding just seven as India romped home to a memorable 15-run win.

T20 World Cup 2007- Final

India v Pakistan, Wanderers, Johannesburg

As had been the case throughout the T20 World Cup 2007, Indian skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat first.

India handed out a debut cap to makeshift opener Yousuf Pathan after Virender Sehwag got ruled out due to injury.

Pathan showed intent up front, smashing 15 off seven deliveries before perishing to Mohammad Asif.

Opener Gautam Gambhir anchored the innings beautifully via his brilliant running between the wickets and surgical dissection of gaps, especially against the spinners.

However, he got very little support from the other hand as Umar Gul (3/15 in 4) and Sohail Tanvir (1/29 in 4) knocked over India's middle order, including the superstar duo of Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni cheaply.

Gambhir compiled a brilliant 54-ball 75, before being eventually dismissed by Gul. However, Rohit Sharma's unbeaten cameo- 30* off 16- lifted the Men in Blue to 157/5.

India got off to a dream start to their target defence as RP Singh got rid of Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal within the first three overs.

However, Imran Nazir's breathtaking 14-ball 33 pegged them back before Robin Uthappa's golden arm sent the Pakistani opener packing.

Younis Khan and skipper Shoaib Malik consumed 41 deliveries between them for just 32 runs before perishing to Joginder Sharma and Irfan Pathan, respectively.

When Pathan (3/16 in 4) dismissed Shahid Afridi for a golden duck, Pakistan still needed another 81 runs and had just four wickets and 8.2 overs to get them.

Then came a calculated assault from Misbah-ul-Haq, which left the game hanging on the knife edge by the time Joginder Sharma took the ball in his hand to bowl the final over.

Misbah went from being 17 off 24 deliveries to 35 off 30 with three sixes off Harbhajan Singh in the 17th over. This was followed by a couple of maximums from Sohail Tanvir off Sreesanth before the latter knocked over the southpaw with a full, straight delivery.

RP Singh delivered a killer 19th over as he dismissed Umar Gul while giving just seven runs (out of which 4 came off the last delivery via an outside edge) to leave 13 in the bank for the 20th.

Dhoni gave the final over to Joginder Sharma, and when Misbah smashed the medium-pacer over long-off for a six to bring the equation down to six off four, it looked all lost for India.

However, Misbah did the unthinkable on the very next delivery as he attempted the scoop shot, and with Joginder offering no pace, the ball went straight up in the air, and Sreesanth claimed the catch at fine-leg to seal an epic jailbreak for India.

Irfan Pathan was adjudged the 'Player of the Final' for his spell of 3/16 (4).

T20 WORLD CUP 2007- Top-5 Leading run-getters

T20 WORLD CUP 2009- Top-5 Leading wicket-takers

T20 World Cup 2007- Player of the Tournament

Pakistan's Shahid Afridi was adjudged the Player of the Tournament of the T20 World Cup 2007 for his impactful performances with the ball.

In seven innings, Afridi delivered 28 overs, conceding just 188 runs for his 12 wickets at a miserly economy rate of 6.71. His best performance of 4/19 came against Scotland in the group-stage encounter. He also scored 91 runs at a strike rate of 197.82 with 46 being his highest score.