'I got overconfident' - Misbah-ul-Haq still rues missing the scoop in the T20 WC 2007 final against India

Misbah-ul-Haq has made vital contributions for Pakistan in the middle-order during his international career. While he managed to get the job done for his side on a few occasions, there were instances where he failed as well and one of those failures came against arch-rivals India in the final of the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007 at Johannesburg’s Wanderers Stadium.

At one point it seemed as if Misbah would help Pakistan lift the title single-handedly before that infamous scoop shot led to his as well as the Men In Green’s downfall. Now, the former skipper has explained why he played that shot in the first place.

“In 2007, I always say that throughout every game, I scored so many fours playing that shot. Even with the fine leg in place, I was taking singles while playing that shot against Australia. Against spinners, I used to beat fine leg with that shot,” said Misbah during his recent conversation with ex-teammates Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Yousuf as quoted by Cricket Next.

Misbah recalls mistiming his best shot

At the same time, the veteran batter also admitted that he got overconfident and thus, ended up mistiming his strong shot on which he had the most confidence. “So, you can say I got overconfident. I mistimed the shot on which I had the most confidence”, he said.

Chasing 153, Pakistan were reduced to 77/6 in the 12th over before Misbah-ul-Haq kept them in the hunt with some great shots. He targeted the spin attack especially Harbhajan Singh as the team’s scoring rate went up in the middle and death overs. The Mianwali cricketer also got some much-needed support from tail-ender Sohail Tanvir as the duo took the Men In Green closer to the target.

Such was their impact that the asking rate came down drastically and just 13 runs were needed off the final over. In a rather surprising move, skipper MS Dhoni gave the ball to medium-pacer Joginder Sharma who bowled a wide delivery under pressure and while he did manage to get away with a dot ball on the next one, Misbah clobbered him for a huge six on the second ball as Pakistan were just one hit away from glory.

In the following delivery, Sharma bowled a slower one outside off-stump as Misbah-ul-Haq walked across the line and attempted a scoop shot only to find Sreesanth at fine leg as India were crowned world champions by five runs.