India became the World Champions of Twently20 Wrold Cup 2007

The full fixture list for the inaugural

Twenty20 World Cup has been annouced and host South Africa will take on the West Indies in the opening game at the Wanderers.On Wednesday September 12th, a day after the opening match, the Kingsmead Stadium in Durban will host the first double-header of the Championship when New Zealand and Kenya square-up in the morning fixture. Following the conclusion of that match Pakistan and Scotland will play each other at 14h00. Later that night Australia takes on Zimbabwe at Newlands in Cape Town.

Earlier this month Roweda Kandan, the Cricket South Africa official tasked with overseeing the Twenty20 World Cup confirmed the groups for the tournament which will see the 12 qualifying nations split into four groups of three, each venue will host a sum of nine games.Once the group stage is completed the two top teams from each group will go through to the Super 8's which start on Sunday, September 16th. The top four teams after the Super 8's will go through the the semi finals on Saturday, September 22nd.

The Final of the Twenty20 World Cup will be played at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Heritage Day, Monday, September 23rd 2007.In announcing the fixtures, Steve Elworthy, Tournament Director of the Twenty20 World Cup, said: “The finalisation of the fixtures programme for this inaugural ICC Twenty/20 World Championship 2007 is a result of a successful process of consultation between the International Cricket Council, Cricket South Africa and the host stadiums.

Tuesday, September 11th 2007

South Africa v West Indies 1800 Johannesburg

Wednesday, September 12th 2007

New Zealand v Kenya 1000 Durban
Pakistan v Scotland 1400 Durban
Australia v Zimbabwe 1800 Cape Town

Thursday, September 13th 2007

West Indies v Bangladesh 1000 Johannesburg
Zimbabwe v England 1400 Cape Town
India v Scotland 1800 Durban

Friday, September 14th 2007

Sri Lanka v Kenya 1000 Johannesburg
Australia v England 1400 Cape Town
India v Pakistan 1800 Durban

Saturday, September 15th 2007

Sri Lanka v New Zealand 1400 Johannesburg
South Africa v Bangladesh 1800 Cape Town

Sunday, September 16th 2007

Winner Group C v Runner Up Group D 1000 Johannesburg
Winner Group B v Runner Up Group A 1400 Cape Town
Winner Group A v Runner Up Group B 1800 Cape Town

Monday, September 17th 2007

Winner Group D v Runner Up Group C 1800 Johannesburg

Tuesday, September 18th 2007

Winner Group C v Runner Up Group B 1000 Durban
Winner Group B v Winner Group D 1400 Johannesburg

Runner Up Group A v Runner Up Group C 1800 Johannesburg

Wednesday, September 19th 2007

Winner Group A v Winner Group C 1400 Durban
Runner Up Group B v Runner Up Group D1800 Durban

Thursday, September 20th 2007

Winner Group B v Runner Up Group C 1000 Cape Town
Runner Up Group A v Winner Group D 1400 Cape Town
Winner Group A v Runner Up Group D 1800 Durban

Saturday, September 22nd 2007

E2 v F1 1400 Cape Town
E1 v F2 1800 Durban

Monday, September 24th 2007

Final

Winning Moments of India

The ICC World Twenty20 or the ICC World T20 or the T20 World Cup is the international championship of Twenty20 cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament consists of 12 all-male teams and is contested by all Test-playing nations plus qualifiers.

The inaugural event, the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, was staged in South Africa from 11-24 September 2007. The tournament was won by India, who become the first World T20 Champions after defeating Pakistan by 5 runs in the final at Johannesburg.

And the second event, the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 took place in England from 5-21 June 2009. This tournament was won by the last time runners-up Pakistan who won the title after defeating Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in the final at Lord's, London.^[1]

Twenty20 is a shortened form of cricket, in which only 20 overs are played per innings, making it a 40-over match in toto, if played till the end by both the teams. The international championship of Twenty20, also known as T20, ICC World Twenty20 had its inaugural tournament in the year 2007. The tournament was played by the ten Test-plying nations, apart from Kenya and Scotland, the finalists of the 2007 WCL Division One tournament. In final match of ICC T20 World Cup 2007, India emerged as the winner, after beating Pakistan.

Twenty20 World Cup 2007 Final

The final of 2007 ICC Twenty20 World Cup was played between India and Pakistan. India reached the finals after beating Australia, by 15 runs, at Kingsmead, Durban. On the other hand, Pakistan made it to the finals after winning against New Zealand, by 6 wickets, in Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town. The final match took place on 24th September 2007, in Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.

On the day of the final, India won the toss and elected to bat first, since the pitch was considered to be batsman-friendly. By the end of twenty overs, India was 157/5, with Umar Gul having taken the crucial wickets of both Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The only player who had played a decent innings was Gautam Gambhir, who made 75 runs off 54 balls. With a low score to pursue, Pakistan had an edge from the very start.


As the game progressed, Sreesanth�s 21-run over tilted the game more in the favor of Pakistan. It was only Irfan Pathan and Joginder Sharma who bowled tight overs, to balance the odds a bit. By the end of the 16th over, Pakistan was short of 54 runs. Then, Harbhajan Singh came to bowl and Misbah-ul-Haq hit 3 sixes off his over. As if this wasn�t enough, even Sreesanth managed to give 2 sixes in his next over.

With one over remaining and one last wicket in hand, Pakistan needed just 13 runs to win. At the start of the final over, Joginder Sharma bowled a wide ball, which was soon followed by a dot ball. Not much time later, Misbah went for a six, leaving Pakistan need just 6 runs to win, with four balls remaining. As Misbah tried to go for another six, he was caught at short fine-leg by Sreesanth. With this, Pakistan was all out for 152 runs and India had won the match, by 5 runs, as well as the championship.

How can a mere 40 overs of cricket contain so many twists and turns?

The last three or four overs in particular were dramatic dynamite. Commentators would say ‘Pakistan are almost certain to win now,’ one ball, yet find themsleves saying it was ‘India’s game to lose,’ the next.

It was unreal. Pakistan would lose a wicket, look dead and buried and then suddenly clout a pair of sixes. India would watch the ball disappear into the stands a few times and then clean bowl someone.

Joginder Sharma was the poor bastard entrusted with the final over. He’s barely played an international match, so it was understandable when his first delivery was a monstrous wide. Nerves will decide it, we thought.

Misbah-ul-Haq appeared to be immune to the tension when he pounded a gargantuan straight-driven six, but in fact he was the one who succumbed to the magnitude of the occasion, attempting a fairly-ludicrous over-the-shoulder loft down to fine leg which was all the more painful considering there were still three further deliveries and that he appeared to have the ability to put the ball where he wanted (the stands) when playing straight.

We won’t repeat ourself for a third time, but what a brilliant tournament and what a brilliant final.

India v Pakistan, ICC Twenty20 World Cup final at Johannesburg
India 157-5 (Gautam Gambhir 75 off 54 balls, Rohit Sharma 30 off 16 balls, Umar Gul 3-28)

Pakistan 152 all out (Misbah-ul-Haq 43 off 38 balls, Imran Nazir 33 off 14 balls, Irfan Pathan 3-16, RP Singh 3-26)


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