OTD: MS Dhoni captained for first time and guided India to 3-0 win through bowl-out against Pakistan

On this day, 16 years ago, MS Dhoni captained India for the first time while registering a historic win against Pakistan in the T20I World Cup, which was staged on September 14, 2007 in Durban, South Africa. From his first win until now, MS Dhoni has been considered a legendary skipper and star cricketer who won all three major trophies for his side.

Speaking about his first win against the Men in Green, it was Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik who won the toss and invited Team India to bat first. Notably, after being sent to bat first, MS Dhoni’s side posted 141/9 in the given 20 overs. Notably, Team India had an awful start as their openers, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, departed after scoring 0 and 5 runs, respectively. Following him, Robin Uthappa managed to get a half-century, while star all-rounder Yuvraj Singh departed for one run. Later in the end, skipper MS Dhoni and Irfan Pathan smashed 33 and 20 runs, respectively, to post a respectable total against Pakistan.

Team India edged past in bowl out

Later, while chasing, the Pakistan team had a decent start as they managed to pile up the runs. Later, Misbah-ul-Haq smashed 53 runs with Yasir Arafat to level the scores. Notably, the Pakistan team clawed back in the last three overs, and the match was decided by bowl out as there was no super over rule during the play. Meanwhile, each team was allowed to nominate five players. MS Dhoni nominated Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan, and Harbhajan Singh.

During the bowl-out, Virender Sehwag was the first for India. The star opener hits the sumps, while Pakistan’s Arafat missed. Following him, great spinner Harbhajan Singh bowled quick and straight and hits the stumps. Pakistan star cricketer Gul missed the stumps. Later, star batter Robin Uthappa ran in, bowled seams up, and knocked the stumps, whereas Pakistan’s star all-rounder Shahid Afridi missed it, which gave India a 3-0 win by bowling out 3-0, and this win marked the legendary cricketer MS Dhoni’s first win as the skipper. Meanwhile, the 2007 T20I World Cup was won by Team India, which marked MS Dhoni’s first major trophy win. Later, the wicketkeeper batter guided India to wins in the 2011 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy.