MS Dhoni reveals how India prepared for the bowl out situation against Pakistan in World T20 2007

2007 was a year which brought a sweeping change in Indian cricket scene after the young team won the inaugural ICC World T20 in South Africa under a first-time captain MS Dhoni, who got the job after the senior lot of Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, and Kumble decided not to play T20 format and let the youngster take over.

The Men in Blue were not expected to do any wonders in the tournament under Dhoni but fared extremely well and the most remembered match apart from the final is the league match against Pakistan, the arch-rivals. It was a match that ended up in a tie and resulted in what then was the decider in such situations- a bowl out. In this, each team nominated five players each, who bowled and tried to hit the bare stumps with each bowler bowling one ball each, something similar to football’s penalty shootout.

MS Dhoni reveals how Indian team prepared for such a situation

“There was something particular about that World Cup. The ‘Bowl-Out’ was one of the things. I remember we would go for practice. Before every practice session, we would practice ‘Bowl Out’ before or after the warm-up. We said it very clear it is for fun but at the same time, whoever hits the wicket most number of times, we will use him if the situation arises,” the International Cricket Council (ICC) quoted Dhoni as saying.

Pakistan had got a chance to take revenge when the two teams met again, in the finals, but despite the best efforts of Misbah-ul-Haq, the Indian team prevailed and became the first-ever T20 world champions. He mentioned that cricket is a team game and everyone had a role assigned to them during the tournament and he said that this was the reason why India won the World Cup.

Talking about his famed ability to remain cool in intense pressure situations, Dhoni said, “I am like everyone else but I control my emotions better than some of the other individuals. I would say, I feel equally frustrated. I also feel angry at times, disappointed. But what is important is that none of these feelings are constructive.”

Perhaps the greatest captain that India has ever produced, Dhoni has not played international cricket since India’s exit from World Cup 2019 when they lost to New Zealand in the semi-finals.

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