MS Dhoni picked Virender Sehwag for 2007 WT20 bowlout on my suggestion: Venkatesh Prasad

T20 World Cup 2007 was exciting for several reasons. It was the beginning of a one-of-a-kind format which was going to become a massive hit in the years to come. Cricketing fans were in for a treat as India was set to face arch-rivals Pakistan in their first game of the marque event. No one had imagined that India's first match in the tournament would end up in a bowl-out.

ALSO READ | MS Dhoni's advice for players in T20 World Cup 2007 revealed by Lalchand Rajput

India were invited to bat first and they ended up posting 141 on the board. Pakistan couldn't chase the modest total as they also scored 141 in their 20 overs. With the game tied, the winners were going to be determined by a bowl out as the concept of Super Over had not existed back then. The bowl-out was similar to penalties in football as each team had a minimum of 5 chances to score as many points as possible.

Venkatesh Prasad says it was his decision to go with Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa and Harbhajan Singh in the bowl-out

In the bowl out, India went ahead with some unusual choices. MS Dhoni's men only opted for only one specialist bowler, Harbhajan Singh and went with two part-timers Virender Sehwag and Robin Uthappa. On the other hand, Pakistan chose to go with Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi. However, Shoaib Malik's men failed to hit the stumps even once as India won the bowl out 3-0 and started their T20 World Cup campaign on a high.

ALSO READ | MS Dhoni's 'smartness' won India the T20 World Cup 2007 bowlout vs Pakistan: Robin Uthappa

Venkatesh Prasad, who was then the bowling coach of India, recently recalled the bowl out on Ravichandran Ashwin's YouTube show ‘DRS with Ash’. Venkatesh Prasad said that they had gone through the rules and regulations of the T20 World Cup. He added that back then if there was a tied game, there was no Super Over back then but a bowl-out. He also revealed that they always used to practice it.

Prasad further said that they had this competition between batsmen and bowlers. Most of the batsmen wanted to bowl as well, like MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, and Robin Uthappa. He also said that they had a competition in the nets. Prasad reckoned that he was looking at what was happening from behind, so he knew which players was hitting the wickets consistently. That’s when he saw Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa and Harbhajan Singh hitting the stumps.

ALSO READ | CSK captain MS Dhoni pips Sourav Ganguly as India's best ever captain in Star Sports' special survey

Prasad opined that nobody expected that their very first match will have a bowl-out. He further said it was not hard for him to convince MS Dhoni to go with the unusual choices. Prasad said that they did take a bit of chance there to go with Virender Sehwag and Robin Uthappa. Prasad said he had to back his instinct and make a decision. Prasad also revealed the reason behind going with Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa and Harbhajan Singh saying that the slower bowlers are more in control of their bodies and delivery. 

ALSO READ | MS Dhoni urged CSK to bid for me in IPL 2020 auction: Piyush Chawla

IMAGE COURTESY: TWITTER/ INDIANSBEAT