The tone for a good tournament was set by good performances against South Africa, the hosts, and arch-rivals Pakistanis. The next opposition was England. It was a good game altogether but what the world witnessed on that day was second to none. The Indians were on song and looking to decimate the Englishmen. With India looking to secure a spot in the semifinal and with the Durban wicket being a belter, the Indians went in to bat first. Here’s a look at what the world saw on the grand stage that night: –
India VS England 2007 T20 World Cup Match: –
India won the toss and MSD, the Genius, chose to bat. The back story behind this decision of India always batting first is that the senior players including Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh had previously played T20 games in South Africa. They previously had got a hang of the situation and realized that chasing was difficult. The cold winds in South Africa made the ball swing and this made chasing an uphill task. So, India was going to set the score.
Virender Sehwag came out too b at with Gautam Gambhir and went all guns blazing. The duo smashed the likes of Chris Tremlett, Freddy Flintoff, and Stuart Broad. Sehwag was overpowering the English bowlers. He slammed them for 68 runs of 52 balls before getting dismissed by Tremlett. On the other hand, Delhi boy, Gambhir took the charge from the other side. He cracked a quickfire 58.
Yuvraj Singh Hits Six Sixes: –
But it was Yuvraj who walked in at number 5 at flipped the game. Yuvraj smoked 2 of Andrew Flintoff’s well-directed yorkers for boundaries. Freddy being the character he got annoyed by this and said a few words to Yuvi. Yuvi wasn’t stepping back either. The conversation had words such as “Those were f***ing ridiculous shots”. Some interpreters also say that there were a few other slurs and threats exchanged. The pangs of this unneeded altercation were felt by Stuart Broad. In the next over. Stuart was young back then and Yuvraj had a feast.
Yuvraj was charged up after the altercation and went beast mode. The next 6 deliveries were all smoked outside the boundaries. Yuvraj hit the first ball of the 19th over, over deep mid-wicket. The next over backward square leg, the third one over wide long-off, then a swat over the deep point to a full toss, the fifth one a hoick over square leg, and finally a massive hit over wide long-on. Yuvraj took the charge to the bowlers and scored a quick-fire 58 of only 16 balls. He still holds the record of the fastest 50 ever scored in a T20Is.
