'People assumed I was under pressure but I was happy to see ball swing' - Joginder Sharma reminisces heroics in T20 WC 2007 final

September 24, 2007, will go down as one of the most iconic moments in the history of Indian cricket. It was on September 24, 2007, when a squad predominantly comprising Young Turks helped India drive home the inaugural ICC World T20 title.

Led by MS Dhoni and under the watchful eyes of the team manager Lalchand Rajput, India scripted history at the Wanderers as they defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the summit clash. 

There were plenty of ebbs and flows in the game, and neither team dominated the contest throughout. Dhoni elected to bat first after winning the toss. 

But India could never really get going and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Opener Gautam Gambhir played a brave hand (75 runs off 54 balls) and anchored the innings really well to help the team post a respectable total of 157/5 in their 20 overs.

The total never really gave a menacing look and Pakistan were expected to reach there without much trouble. But a valiant bowling display from the Indian bowlers led by Irfan Pathan, who picked up a three-fer and only conceded 16 runs in his quota of four overs swung the game in India's favour. 

India were dictating terms to Pakistan up until the 16th over. With 54 runs needed off four overs and three wickets in the kitty, Pakistan needed a miracle to get back into the contest and Misbah-ul-Haq provided the same.

He smashed Harbhajan Singh for three sixes in the 17th over as Pakistan accumulated 19 runs in total. Misbah took the game deep and helped Pakistan reach a stage where they required 13 runs off the last over.

With Harbhajan clearly struggling, Dhoni decided to hand the ball to Joginder Sharma. Joginder had successfully defended 22 runs in the semi-final clash against Australia previously but the cushion of runs in the bag was much less this time around and the stakes were sky high.

Joginder bowled a big wide up front and skipper Dhoni walked all the way from behind the stumps to calm the then youngster down. He followed it up with a dot ball but got hit for a six on the second delivery and it appeared to many that the game was out of India's grasp. 

But Joginder kept his cool and induced a false stroke from Misbah as the latter ended up hitting a scoop straight down the throat of S Sreesanth at short fine-leg on the next delivery. Joginder scripted history for India and showed immense courage in the face of adversity. 

Taking a trip down memory lane, Joginder spoke to Star Sports and reminisced about the glorious day.

"I was the one who had bowled the last over against Australia in the semi-final. During practice sessions, we were asked to bowl specific amount of balls as yorkers and outside off-stump and Mahi (MS Dhoni) had a lot of faith in me," said Joginder. 

"(In the final) I was pretty confident and ran to bowl the last over the moment Mahi signaled. He told me not to worry about the outcome."

"When I bowled the first delivery, it swung and was called a wide. People assumed that I was under pressure and that's why I bowled a wide but I was pretty happy to see the ball swing. I always felt pretty confident when the ball swung as I believed that it gave me an upper hand regardless of the batter on strike."

"The next ball was a dot and I got hit for a six on the second ball. Dhoni walked up to me again and I told him that there's nothing to worry, if there's a change in strike then I'll get rid of the other batter."

"Misbah was already positioned to play a scoop on the leg-side, while I was still in my follow through thinking that I'll try to bowl a yorker outside off. But I changed my strategy and pulled my length back and cut down on pace. The ball didn't hit the meat of his willow and Sreesanth settled under it and took the catch."