Robin Uthappa Reveals How MS Dhoni's Tactics Helped India Win Bowl-Out Against Pakistan in 2007 T20 World Cup Encounter
"The Pakistan keeper (Kamran Akmal) was standing where a wicketkeeper would normally stand. But MS was right behind the stumps and that just made it so much easier for us. We just had to bowl at MS and it gave us the best chance to hit the wickets. That's what we did,” said Uthappa.
Former Indian captain and wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni is known for his unorthodox but effective captaincy style. From giving the last over to Joginder Sharma during T20 World Cup 2007 to promoting himself ahead of in-form Yuvraj Singh in 2011 World Cup final, Dhoni has made many decisions which raised many eyebrows at first but proved to be spot on. Recently, Indian batsman Robin Uthappa recalled the India Vs Pakistan group stage match in 2007 T20 World Cup and revealed how MS Dhoni helped the bowlers to hit the stumps in the bowl out. Chennai Super Kings Shares Throwback Video of MS Dhoni, Fans Miss Thalla As Clip Goes Viral.
Both the sides scored 141 in their allotted 20 overs during that game and the winner of the encounter was to be decided from a bowl out. The Indian bowlers- Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa and Harbhajan Singh- hit the stumps in the first three attempts while the Pakistan bowlers -Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi failed to hit the target even once and as a result, the Men in Blue emerged victorious.
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"One of the things that MS [Dhoni] did really well, and that he did differently from what the Pakistan 'keeper did was, where he stood behind the stumps," Uthappa said to Ish Sodhi during a Rajasthan Royals podcast.
"The Pakistan keeper (Kamran Akmal) was standing where a wicketkeeper would normally stand. But MS was right behind the stumps and that just made it so much easier for us. We just had to bowl at MS and it gave us the best chance to hit the wickets. That's what we did,” he added.
Robin also credited India’s then bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad who made the team practice for the bowl out. "We actually practice the bowl outs. I want to give credit to our bowling coach. Venkatesh Prasad was studious in that manner. He was very astute and attentive to all the rules of the game. He had us preparing for this scenario,” opined the veteran batsman.
The 34-year-old also said that he himself approached Dhoni to have a go when bowl out was announced. "When it was decided that the bowl out was going to happen, I went to MS and said I got to bowl. He said 'sure, okay cool'. That kind of reinforced my belief that I could hit it,” said Uthappa further.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 20, 2020 08:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).