How MS Dhoni's captaincy was more influential in World T20 2007 than World Cup 2011
It was the inaugural tournament of T20 format at the world stage. The format was new and India had played only a solitary T20I before that.
3. The tournament format
If we look closely, the format in the World Cup 2011 was rather easier as compared to 2007. To reach the quarter-finals India won 4 out of their 6 games. Out of those 4, West Indies was the only team that featured in the Top 8 teams in ICC rankings. The proper competition was actually given by South Africa and England and India didn’t win against either of them.
On the other hand, the format of World T20 2007 was rather more practical. India didn’t play any minnow through the tournament. The win against Pakistan came after a bowl out and after losing against New Zealand, the team was up for 4 continuous knock-out games. It also included a game against South Africa where India needed to win with a bigger margin to make the net run-rate better in order to qualify and they were again successful.
All the games India won except against England, almost went till the last ball. A skipper’s role is very important in such critical situations. The way Team India was able to pull out the magical tournament run, it was because of the wizard behind the stumps.
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