In the history of the T20 World Cup, only one bowl-out has taken place
In the present era of T20 international cricket, whenever a T20 match ends in a tie, a Super Over is played to determine the winner of that game. However, before 2011, there was a thing called Bowl-out in place of the Super Over. For the unversed souls, the Bowl-out was similar to a penalty kick in football.
Whenever a match used to end in a tie, each team was allowed five deliveries with the objective of picking a wicket. No batsmen were allowed to stand in front of the stumps, and therefore, a Bowl-out seemed easy, but they were not. Five different bowlers were allowed to throw one delivery, and finally, the team with the most wickets was awarded the game.
When it comes to the T20 World Cup, only one Bowl-out has even been played in the tournament. Can you guess the match? If not, scroll down to recall the thrilling game.
In the first-ever T20 World Cup in 2007, arch-rivals India and Pakistan met and clashed in the 10th match of the tournament, given they were part of Group D. Batting first, India's batsmen succumbed to Pakistan bowlers as the team faltered in merely 141 runs in 20 overs. The only decent scores were put up by Robin Uthappa (50), MS Dhoni (33) and Irfan Pathan (20). Five Indian batsmen went back to the pavilion without scoring more than five runs. In short, India's batting display was harrowing.
While Indian batsmen failed, the Indian bowlers rose to the occasion and took the onus of securing victory. Apart from Misbah-ul-Haq scoring 53, none of the Pakistani batsmen could go past 20 runs, and three were sent back to the pavilion with single-digit scores. Nonetheless, Misbad had done enough to match India's score of 141, tying the game.
There it was—the first-ever Bowl-out in the T20 World Cup between India and Pakistan.
Sehwag was the first to bowl from India, hitting the stump quickly. In response, Arafat bowled the first delivery from Pakistan's end but missed the stump, giving a 1-0 lead to India. For India, the second delivery was done by Harbhajan Singh, who nicked the stumps easily, but his counterpart Umal Gul failed—India gained a lead of 2-0. Surprisingly, the third delivery for India was carried out by Robin Uthappa, who also knocked the stumps. Pakistan's veteran Shahid Afridi went for the third delivery and missed the stumps. India won the match and the first-ever Bowl-out of the T20 World Cup.
A few days ago, while speaking to Star Sports, former Indian bowler Irfan Pathan revealed a hilarious incident that took place during the Bowl-out. Pathan revealed that he was supposed to make the third delivery from India's side, but Robin Uthappa snatched the ball and ran away to make the delivery. Fortunately, Uthappa did not mess up the opportunity.
Ten days later, on September 24, 2007, the two teams met once again in the tournament's finale. India once again won the match and lifted the first-ever T20 World Cup trophy. In the finale, Irfan Pathan won the Player of the Match award for picking up three wickets while giving away only 16 runs.
