New Delhi: The 2007 ICC Twenty20 World Cup was the inaugural Twenty20 International Cricket World Championship and India proved to be champions of the shortest format. South Africa hosted the world cup from 11th to 24th September 2007. Twelve teams took part in the thirteen-day tournament.
15 years ago on this day September 24, India lifted the cup, beating Pakistan in the final.
Here are 15 interesting facts about the 2007 ICC World Cup:
1. The group league match between India and Pakistan of the 2007 ICC Twenty20 World Cup ended in a tie. At that time, a tied game result would be decided via bowl-out. Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, and Robin Uthappa hit their targets, while the Pakistanis Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, and Shahid Afridi missed severely.
2. West Indies conceded the most number of extra runs in their T20 World Cup 2007 match against South Africa at Johannesburg. The West Indies team gave 28 extra runs in that match.
3. Australia lost to Zimbabwe in their first match in the 2007 edition of the T20 World Cup. First, the bowlers who were led by Elton Chigumbura restricted Australia to a low total of 138 runs, and then Brendan Taylor anchored the innings to defeat Ricky Ponting’s men.
Fastest Fifty in T20I
4. On the 19th of September 2007, India was taking on England, and Yuvraj Singh brought up his fifty in just twelve deliveries, making him the record holder of the fastest fifty in a T20 international.
Six sixes by Yuvraj Singh
5. In the same match, Yuvraj Singh became the first player in T20 cricket to smash six sixes in one over. The unfortunate bowler who was hit hard by Yuvraj Singh on this day was Stuart Broad.
6. On the 14th of September 2007, Sri Lanka took on Kenya in a group stage match and scored a whopping 260 runs from their twenty overs. To this very day, this is the highest total that has been posted in a T20 World cup match.
7. In the same match, Kenya was bowled out for a mere 88 runs, meaning they lost by 172 runs, which is still the biggest defeat in T20 World cup history.
8. The first-ever T20 World Cup game was played between the West Indies and South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on the 11th of September.
9. In the same match, Chris Gayle became the first batsman to score a century in a T20 format international match. Furthermore, Chris Gayle remained out to be the only batsman to hit a century in the 2007 T20 world cup.
10. On the 16th of September 2007, Australia played Bangladesh, and Australian fast bowler Brett Lee took three wickets in three balls to become the first person to take a hat-trick in the T20 world cup. Shakib Al Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza, and Alok Kapali were his victims.
11. The Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist had the most number of dismissals by a wicket-keeper in the 2007 T20 World Cup. He had made 9 dismissals which made a record in the tournament.
12. Craig McMillan of New Zealand scored the maximum number of sixes in the 2007 T20 world cup. He hit a total of 13 sixes in the whole tournament.
13. Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka conceded 64 runs in 4 overs against Pakistan at Johannesburg in their T20 World Cup 2007. He holds the record for most number of runs conceded in a T20 inning.
14. India only played one game in the Group stage round against Pakistan and qualified for the next round after defeating Pakistan in a bowl out equation. The game against Scotland was abandoned.
15. The champions India had played only one T20 International before the World cup which was back in 2006. Also, they had only one domestic T20 tournament up until then.
