The prolific Indian batsman Robin Uthappa has bowled only three deliveries in his entire career. He bowled two deliveries in ODIs. However, he bowled one very important delivery in the ICC World T20 2007 clash against Pakistan in Durban. The match progressed to bowl outs when bowlers from both the teams had to hit the stumps. MS Dhoni selected him as one of the bowlers to hit the stumps during the bowl out. He bowled the 3rd delivery and hit the stumps perfectly. India won the match by a margin of 3-0 in the bowl outs.
Robin Uthappa gives the credit of this win to MS Dhoni
Uthappa recalled that incident and has now given the credit to captain MS Dhoni for India’s victory. MS Dhoni was captaining the national team for the first time in that tournament. MSD stood right behind the stumps during the bowl out. Uthappa said that it assisted the bowlers to aim and directly hit the stumps.
“One of the things that MS [Dhoni] did really well, and that he did differently from what Pakistan ‘keeper did was, where he stood behind the stumps,” Uthappa said on Rajasthan Royals’ podcast with New Zealand spinner Ish Sodhi.
On the other hand, the Pakistan wicketkeeper stood in a normal keeper’s position and was not behind the stumps. All the three bowlers from Pakistan- Umar Gul, Yasir Arafat and Shahid Afridi, failed to hit the stumps. Uthappa said that MS standing right behind the wickets helped them to bowl directly at him. As a result, they could hit the wickets.
The secret of successfully hitting the wickets?
“The Pakistani keeper (Kamran Akmal) was standing where a WK usually stands. A few feet back and besides the stump — just alongside the stump. But MS was (sitting) right behind the stumps and that made it so much easier for us. We just had to bowl at MS and it gave us the best chance to hit the wickets. That is all we did,” he added.
During Pakistan’s run chase, the Men In Green needed just one run off the final delivery. However, Misbah-ul-Haq failed to score that run and India got a narrow escape. Misbah was run out at the non-striker’s end and the match progressed to a bowl out. The score was tied at 141 and through the bowl out India registered their first win under MS Dhoni.
Mohammad Asif got the Man Of the Match award despite Pakistan ending on the losing side. Asif took four wickets in that match. Uthappa also contributed in the match by scoring 50 runs off 39 balls. His innings consisted of our fours and a couple of sixes.
This was just the start of something special. MS Dhoni had a brilliant career as a skipper and a player. He started off a special revolution in the world of cricket. Dhoni will never be forgotten for his smartness and cool captaincy. Winning India a couple of World Cup titles is not something that every captain can do. MSD did!!
