World T20 2007: 3 most memorable matches India played en route to final

The 2007 T20 World Cup has a special place in the hearts of India's cricket fans. Playing under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, a young Indian team stunned the world and emerged as the inaugural ICC WT20 champions.

The final match between India and Pakistan was one of the most thrilling encounters of that tournament. But before that match, MS Dhoni's men were involved in some memorable games as well.

With Team India celebrating 14 years of the historic T20 World Cup triumph, here's a look at the three best games from that competition involving India before the final against Pakistan.

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#1 India vs Pakistan, Group D

India were scheduled to play their first Group D game against Scotland. But the match did not take place because of rain. The Men in Blue had to defeat Pakistan in their last group match to top the standings.

Pakistan won the toss and invited their arch-rivals to bat first. Robin Uthappa's half-century guided India to 141/9 in 20 overs. Chasing 142 to record their second win in the tournament, Pakistan lost early wickets and were down to 47/4 after 8.5 overs.

Misbah-ul-Haq's fifty took the Men in Green closer to the target but they ended up scoring the same number of runs as India. The tied encounter forced a bowl-out between the two teams, where captain MS Dhoni's smartness helped the Indian team prevail. India ultimately beat Pakistan 3-0 in the first-ever T20 World Cup bowl-out.

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#2 India vs South Africa, Super 8s

Hosts South Africa stood in India's way to the semifinals in the Super 8s stage. The Indian team not only needed to win the match but also had to emerge victorious by a decent margin to advance to the final four.

MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat in Durban. Unfortunately, the Men in Blue's top-order failed to fire as they were down to 33/3 in 5.1 overs. A young Rohit Sharma then joined hands with captain Dhoni to rescue the team. Sharma remained unbeaten on 50*, while Dhoni aggregated 406 runs as they took India to a 153-run total.

South Africa had to score a minimum of 126 runs to qualify for the semifinals. However, a fine bowling effort from RP Singh, Sreesanth, Joginder Sharma, Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan helped India restrict the Proteas to 116/9 in 20 overs. RP Singh was the pick of the bowlers, with figures of 4/13 in four overs.

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#3 India vs Australia, Semifinal

Yuvraj Singh and Sreesanth were heroes of India's epic win against Australia in the 2007 T20 World Cup semifinals. Indian openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag were back in the dressing room before the score touched 50.

Yuvraj Singh came out to bat at number four and played one of the best knocks in an ICC tournament knockout game. Singh blasted a 30-ball 70, hitting five fours and fives. Robin Uthappa and MS Dhoni supported him well, aggregating 34 and 36 runs, respectively.

India set a big target of 189 runs for the mighty Australians. Matthew Hayden's half-century kept the Aussies in the game, but once Sreesanth rattled his stumps, the Men in Blue did not allow Australia to bounce back.

Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan and Joginder Sharma scalped two wickets each, while Harbhajan Singh took the crucial wicket of Michael Clarke. Australia lost to India by 15 runs in Durban that night.