The Forgotten Warrior: Ep10
@rpsingh. WT20 2007.
Ind 153/5, SA 0/11 (1 over)
On strike: @hershybru.
Ind and SA were up against each other in a virtual QF match. We had to restrict SA to less than 126 if we had any hope of reaching the SF. The 1st over, however,...

. was not the best one. We conceded 11 runs that included 5W and a four. The pitch was green and we needed some one to put his hand up. In comes @rpsingh who bowls the 1st ball on target. Full, swinging into the right hander & @hershybru misses it, the ball hits the pad & bang!

India is fired up. @rpsingh charges in and bowls another inswinger to @ABdeVilliers17, who takes a single. Then bowls a perfect outswinger to @GraemeSmith49 who negotiates it calmly. In comes the 4th ball. RP bowls this one slightly more away from Smith and snares him..

.. into playing an expensive drive. The ball however catches the outside edge and flies to 2nd slip where @DineshKarthik holds on to a ripper. In no time though, SA were 12/2 and India sensed an opening afterall. @sreesanth36 then bowls a beauty to dismiss @ABdeVilliers17.

SA 12/3. #JustinKemp and @7polly7 then could only last for 2 overs. In the 6th over, While @rpsingh was the architect in dismissing Polly by going around the wicket (another cracker). Kemp was undone by India's athleticism. SA end-up wobbling at 31/5. Both the bowlers..

.. then come back to dismiss @markb46 and @albiemorkel who looked dangerous to take the game away from India. @rpsingh concluded with a match figure of 4-0-13-4. He remained imperturbable in the Finals as well where he takes 3 wickets. He finished 2nd in wicket tally with 12..

.. wickets among the bowlers in the tournament (highest for India). The UP boy was finally realizing his dreams of being a match winner for India.
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@rpsingh came into reckoning through his U19 WC performance in Bangladesh in 2004 where he had taken 8 wickets at an avg of 24

The boy from Raebareli had an lustrous start to his career. In his 3rd ODI, he was awarded MOM for taking 4 wickets on batting paradise against SL. He was soon given the test cap and on his debut he was again awarded the MOM award. His form was promising in ODIs as well..

..where he amassed 3 MOM awards in 11 matches. His superior ER and wicket taking abilities got him into the side that was selected for the CT2006 tournament. However, string of poor performances meant he was dropped from the side soon and came back into the team after the..

..2007 WC debacle when Ind toured Eng in 2007.
His return was equally lethal as he became Ind's leading wicket taker from the period May 2007- May 2008. He took 68 wickets in total at an avg of 32 and ER of mere 4.2. This period included 2007WC, Ind's win in Eng & Perth..

..with @rpsingh as the architect. As aforementioned his exploits in the WC where he was India's leading Wkt taker. He took 12 wickets in 3 test matches in Eng that included inngs best 5/59 at Lord's and match figure of 7/117 and took key wickets in Nottingham that..

.. helped India in restricting England in their 2nd innings to set a moderate target of 73. His performance made him 3rd highest wicket taker in the series behind @ImZaheer and @anilkumble1074. His antics were also important against Aus in Perth where he took 4 wkts..

..in the 1st innings to set up the famous win. However, post this game, his performances started going down. His avg went down to 49 in ODIs. Frequent injuries also kept him away from the test squad. A career that had shown immense promise at the threshold..

...Faded away sooner than anyone would have thought. However, this thread is one for his performances.

Hope you all enjoy this month's forgotten warrior episode and get to remember one of the best WC spells by an Indian bowler.