T20 cricket has been a craze in India since the team defeated Pakistan in the final of the T20 World Cup 2007. But what about before 2007, there were very few who knew about T20 cricket and it was not as popular as today.
At the international level, the Indian team played their first ever T20 match against South Africa at Johannesburg on December 1, 2006. Virendra Sehwag got the opportunity to play the role of captain in that match. The team was fully packed with legendary Sachin Tendulkar and upcoming star players MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, and Harbhajan Singh.
Graeme Smith was leading South Africa and he took the decision to bat first after winning the toss. South Africa did not get a good start and their top-order batsmen struggled a lot and lost some early wickets. On the other hand, Indian bowlers, especially Zaheer Khan and Agarkar, did not give the chance to settle down the opposition and maintained the pressure. Finally, South Africa had put a total of 126/9 runs on the scoreboard at the end of the 20 overs. Albie Morkel was the highest scorer for the South African batsmen and made 27 runs off 18 balls. South Africa got a lot of depth in their batting line up but Indian bowlers did fantastic work and limited the African batsman to score more.
Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar took 2 wickets each, and Sreesanth, Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh got 1 wicket in their first t20 match of India. India needed 127 runs to win their maiden T20I match. Then Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, the best opening pair for India in ODI at that time, stepped out to chase the target. India did not get a good start and lost the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar in the 4th over at the score of 17 runs only. Dinesh Mongia came to join Sehwag and both handled the situation. After losing Sehwag in 9.3 overs, MS Dhoni came out to the middle but could not stay longer and was sent back for a duck.
Afterward, Dinesh Karthik played well along with Dinesh Mongia and brought the team into the winning situation. But sooner, India lost the wicket of Mongia. After the wicket of Dinesh Mongia at 108 runs, Dinesh Karthik did not stop himself and made unbeaten 31 runs from 28 balls. In the final over, the Indian team needed 9 runs, and then Dinesh Karthik calmed Indian tensions by hitting a superb six to Robin Peterson that helped India to win the match by 6 wickets with one ball remaining. Dinesh Karthik was named for the Man of the Match title. This is the entire story of India’s first T20 match.
Result: India won their 1st ever T20 match by 6 wickets. First T20 International match of India Scorecard
Indian team played their 2nd T20 international match under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni in ICC T20 World Cup 2007.