“It was a miscalculation”, RP Singh on Dhoni’s decision to bow Joginder Sharma in the final over

RP Singh highlights what went south in Johannesburg in 2007: The year 2007 would always remain etched onto the Indian fans’ memory because of two reasons. The first being a shattering upset that saw them bowing out of the group stages in the 50-over World Cup while the second was where they walked out with their heads held high from the maiden T20 World Cup, drubbing Pakistan in the grand finale.

The grand finale was riddled with countless twists and turns that saw the pendulum oscillating vehemently from one side to the other. It all boiled down to that final over where the ball was handed over to Joginder Sharma who eventually got the trick done for the Indian captain.

Here is what RP Singh had to say about MS Dhoni losing sight of the bigger proceedings

India’s star bowler for the tournament, Rudra Pratap Singh revealed an incident that was unknown to many until this day. The southpaw said that ideally, it should have been him with that final over but a slight glitch in the calculation matrix ended up leaving Dhoni with the choice between Harbhajan or Joginder Sharma for that final over.

During his commentary stint at the SA20, RP Singh said, “Dhoni used to believe that 20th over isn’t as important as the 17th, 18th, and 19th. Misbah was playing really good that time. Harbhajan usually used to bowl the 17th over and more often than not, get us a breakthrough there. But Misbah was in some different touch that day. So there, it was a miscalculation.”

He further added, “Harbhajan couldn’t complete his overs. I had to bowl the 19th over, Sreesanth had to bowl before me. We had two options, either go with Harbhajan or Joginder. Misbah was batting good and if it was a left-handed batter, then Harbhajan would’ve bowled the final over. Since it was a right-handed batter, Joginder was given the ball.”

Riding high on some controlled brilliance from Gautam Gambhir and a late charge from current captain, Rohit Sharma, India piled up 157 on the cards. Chasing 158, Pakistan came an early cropper and eventually returned to the game on the shoulders of Misbah-ul Haq who almost managed to take the game away from the Indians only to be refuted in the dying embers by Joginder Sharma.