Joginder Sharma, the man who played a starring role in the final of the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup 2007, announced his retirement from all formats of international and domestic cricket on Friday, February 3. Joginder successfully defended 13 runs in nail-biting India vs Pakistan final in Johannesburg on September 24, 2007.
Joginder Sharma brought the curtains on a 21-year-long journey in competitive cricket. Having made his List A debut in 2001/02 season, Joginder played until September 2022 in the Legends League Cricket. He also played under MS Dhoni at Chennai Super Kings from 2008 to 2011, picking up 14 wickets in 16 matches. The 39-year-old has been serving as Deputy Superintendent of Haryana Police. He was lauded for his efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Joginder Sharma played 4 ODIs and as many T20Is between 2004 and 2007. Incidentally, the medium pacer did not play another match for India after the T20 World Cup final in which MS Dhoni took a gamble by giving the last over to the Haryana medium pacer.
The gamble paid off and is considered as one of the masterstrokes of Dhoni’s captaincy career. Pakistan needed 13 runs in the final over with only one wicket left. Misbah-ul-Haq, who was batting with Mohammad Asif, single-handedly led Pakistan’s chase of 158 after they were reduced to 6 for 77 in the final.
After bringing the equation down to 6 runs in 4 deliveries, Misbah played a scoop shot in the third delivery of the over, which landed straight into the hands of deep fine-leg fielder S Sreesanth. It was Joginder who picked the final wicket in the big final that helped India become the world champions in the shortest format of the game.
