Exactly 13 years ago, Team India created history as they became the first ever side to win the T20 World Cup. Sans players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan, a young Indian side, led by MS Dhoni, scaled the pinnacle in the sport after what had been a disastrous year for the Men in Blue.
After being kicked out of the 2007 50-over World Cup in the first round, the Indian fans needed plenty of cheer, which was provided in a come-from-behind victory in the T20 World Cup. The tournament, that began with a washout against Scotland and a bowl out between India and Pakistan in the league stages, ended with the two arch-rivals facing each other in the summit clash. In between, there were plenty of memorable moments for the Indian fans, with Yuvraj Singh smashing six sixes in an over against England, Rohit Sharma announcing himself against South Africa and India defeating the mighty Australians by 15 runs in the semis.
On 24th September 2007, the two Asian countries faced off at Johannesburg with the iconic stadium packed with the vociferous supporters of the two sides. The Indians posted a challenging target on the board, courtesy Gautam Gambhir’s sedate and mature innings, and the rest is history. Right from Irfan Pathan’s enviable spell to Joginder Sharma’s final over, the match had plenty of talking points, which ended with Misbah Ul Haq’s mishit that gave India a win by five runs.
🎙️ "In the air, Sreesanth takes it!"#OnThisDay in 2007, India clinched the inaugural ICC @T20WorldCup 🏆 after an exciting final against arch-rivals Pakistan 💥#T20TakesOff: Watch extended highlights of the 🔥 #INDvPAK clash 👇
— ICC (@ICC) September 24, 2020
However, it is the events that unfolded after the World Cup that changed the way cricket was to be viewed forever. The win not only generated BCCI’s interest in the T20 format, but also led to the idea of the Indian Premier League, a tournament that has, in the last 13 years, gained great heights. Lalit Modi, whose brainchild was the IPL, announced that eight city-based franchise teams, with a maximum of four overseas players, would battle it out in a T20 event for over six weeks. Big corporations and film stars were asked to bid for the eight franchise teams, with players from across the world being auctioned for millions and thousands of dollars.
It allowed some of the biggest names to be in the same team – a concept that was unheard of before the IPL started. We had Ricky Ponting playing alongside Sourav Ganguly, while Harbhajan Singh took the field with Andrew Symonds a few years later. Blurring the lines of enmity, the IPL brought the global stars together on one platform. Domestic players took the IPL as a huge platform to showcase their skills on the biggest stage, which further improved the bench strength in the country.
Players like Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant are direct products of the IPL, and while the Indian team was growing stronger on field, off field too, the BCCI was raking money. With high viewership and ad rates, the BCCI soon became the wealthiest cricket board in the world, though its impact on world cricket is an argument for another day.
Overall, the T20 World Cup helped in attracting more women and children to the sport, made it more accessible and financially secured the future of a number of domestic stars, who could have fizzled out, besides making the Indian set-up more challenging and competitive.