India is set to embark on a fresh bid to bring home the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup after a wait of 15 years. Not just the T20I championship, India is also trying to win its first major ICC trophy since the historic second ODI World Cup win in 2011. But as India look to regain lost glory, two squad members may prove crucial, owing to their experience of winning the trophy 15 years ago.
Back in 2007, not everyone expected India to become champions at the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in South Africa. The Men in Blue were being led by a relatively inexperienced skipper in MS Dhoni. Little did the world know that he would lead the side to the two biggest trophy wins in the limited overs format of cricket. However, Dhoni’s side consisted of some mammoth players like vice-captain Yuvraj Singh who played the most iconic over in T20 World Cup history and hit six 6s. It had India’s leading run scorer in the tournament Gautam Gambhir and the most explosive batsman ever in Virender Sehwag. It had the all-round muscle of Yusuf Pathan, and bowling brilliance of Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh and Sreesanth.
The Rohit Sharma-led Team India are among the first favourites this time around. An Australia vs India final in 2022 is the most predicted conclusion. The squad has perhaps the best top 4 batting line up of all teams in Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, the best finishers in Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik and a fearsome bowling attack despite Jasprit Bumrah’s absence.
Two of these players were part of the T20 World Cup 2007 winning squad
It was none other than skipper Rohit Sharma and comeback king Dinesh Karthik. Both had contributions on the road to glory that cannot be forgotten. Sharma scored an important fifty against South Africa on his T20 World Cup debut and then played a crucial finisher’s knock in the final with 30 of 16 balls for India.
Dinesh Karthik, who was the reserve wicket-keeper for India at the 2007 T20 World Cup was played in some matches as a middle-order batsman but stayed out of action later in the tournament as Joginder Sharma’s role in the team grew. However, Karthik took one of the catches of the tournament for the crucial dismissal of South Africa’s Graeme Smith in a high-stakes match.
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India’s complete squad at ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2007
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c, wk), Yuvraj Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Joginder Sharma, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, R. P. Singh, S. Sreesanth, Robin Uthappa
India complete squad for ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022
Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
Standby Players: Mohammad Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj
