‘Please God, Let Him Hold On to This One’ – Robin Uthappa Recalls Sreesanth’s 2007 T20 World Cup-winning Catch

India batsman Robin Uthappa, who was part of the side that went on to lift the first T20 World Cup in 2007, said he found himself praying to God that S Sreesanth would be able to hold on to the catch of Misbah-ul-Haq in the final over of the game.

Sreesanth, who was at short fine-leg, would hold on to Misbah’s mistimed scoop shot to ensure India won what had been a thrilling summit encounter and be crowned world champions in the shortest format of the game.

“At the beginning of the over, I was at long-on. I remember Jogi bowling a wide on the first ball and I was like ‘man!’ I was praying. Every ball, from 15th over onwards, I was just praying ‘just get us through’. He bowled a wide first ball, and I was like ‘okay, let it not go for a six now’. Then he got hit for a six,” Uthappa said on BBC’s Doosra Podcast.

“And I was like, ‘come on, we can still do this’. Even in that situation, Pakistan had all the momentum going their way, I was backing our team. Misbah hit a scoop shot, and I saw it going pretty high. I noticed that it wasn’t going really far.

“Then I saw who the fielder at short fine-leg was, and I saw it was Sreesanth. By that point, within the team, he was known for dropping catches, especially the easiest ones. I have seen him drop absolute sitters.

“As soon as I saw Sreesanth, I started running towards the wickets, and I started praying ‘please god, let him hold on to this one’. If you look at him taking that catch, you can see that when the ball actually entered his hands, he is looking up there (laughs).

“So, I still truly believe it was nothing but destiny that won us that World Cup.”

The win in the final saw India go on to lift their first world title since 1983 and also helped heal the wounds of their first-round exit from the ODI World Cup just a few months prior.