Overview

• Irfan Pathan posted on X that “beating Pakistan on regular basis started there in T20 cricket,” recalling his Player-of-the-Final display in 2007.
• India beat Pakistan by five runs in the Johannesburg final after posting 157/5, built on Gautam Gambhir’s 75 and Rohit Sharma’s 30 not out.
• RP Singh took 3/26 and Pathan 3/16, while Pakistan’s Umar Gul claimed 3/28 to keep the chase alive late into the match.
• MS Dhoni led a youthful, largely untested India after senior players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly skipped the tournament.
• Joginder Sharma’s last over ended with Misbah-ul-Haq’s miscued lap shot to S Sreesanth, a moment widely credited with accelerating T20’s rise in India.