Venkatesh Prasad reveals why India used Virender Sehwag and Robin Uthappa in bowl-out against Pakistan at 2007 World T20

The 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa saw the introduction of a new format called bowl-out. Now, former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad, who was the bowling coach of India at that time, has explained why the team used non-regular bowlers like Virender Sehwag and Robin Uthappa for the just-introduced format at that crucial juncture of the game. Prasad told Ravichandran Ashwin on the Indian off-spinner’s YouTube show DRS with Ash, “We had gone through the rules and regulations of the World Cup. When there was a tied game, there was no Super Over back then, there was a bowl-out. Obviously we always used to practice it.”

He revealed that the team had bowl-out competitions between batsmen and bowlers in the nets, where the likes of MS Dhoni, Sehwag, and Robin Uthappa eagerly participated. Prasad added that during the competition he would always be looking at who was hitting the wickets and found Sehwag, Uthappa, and Harbhajan to be consistent. The former India pacer went on to reveal that no one expected that their very first match will have a bowl out, but it was not hard for him to convince Dhoni saying that those were the guys who were doing well. “We had to take our chances as well. We did take a bit of chance there, having Sehwag and Uthappa I had to back my instinct and make a decision. The slower bowlers are more in control of their bodies and delivery. They had a straight-arm action," he said. India and Pakistan met twice in the T20 World Cup, once in the early stages and again in the final. In the first match, after opting to bowl, Pakistan gave away 141 and the match ended in a tie at the end of 20 overs. In the bowl out, India used only one regular bowler, Harbhajan Singh, and instead allowed batsmen Virender Sehwag and Robin Uthappa to bowl. Pakistan used Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi. India won the bowl-out 3-0 after all three players hit the stumps while all Pakistan bowlers missed all attempts in the best-of-five scenario. India and Pakistan then met in the final with the former securing a tense win to clinch their maiden World T20 title.