The ball was up in the air. Hearts pumped at both sides of the LOC as the ball fell down. Beneath the sky were all the players, their heads stuck at one man – Sreesanth.
The moment Sreesanth took the catch, a billion people in the country had forgotten where they were. They jumped in elation. Sree would have become a villain in the eyes of the people in his country if he had not caught this important catch. For many, the game is remembered for MS Dhoni’s tactics and calmness, Joginder Sharma’s courageous last-over, RP Singh’s astute bowling. We, however, forget the catch, which could have been called ‘simple’ if Pakistan were at 10 for no loss. But the fact that it decided who won the inaugural T20I World Cup, made it all the one of the toughest catches taken ever. More importantly, it decided if India beat Pakistan in the final of the WT20 or Pakistan beat India.
‘Sreesanth takes it’, screamed Ravi Shastri in the commentary box, “and India win the World Cup,” he concluded. These two lines will always be etched in our hearts forever. These two lines will also tell the generations to come that if Sreesanth did not take that catch, India would not have won the first-ever T20 World Cup. Irrespective of all the controversies and criticism that came his way, Sreesanth and India will always echo in our ears together because of that one catch.
