New Delhi:
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday took a jab at Pakistan by drawing a symbolic link between India’s famous 2007 T20 World Cup bowl-out victory over its bitter rivals and the Indian armed forces’ recent success in Operation Sindoor.
The BJP shared a 31-second video clip from the India-Pakistan league stage match that ended in a tie during the inaugural T20 World Cup.
Indian players – Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, and Robin Uthappa – hit the stumps in a bowl-out finish, while Pakistan’s Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, and Shahid Afridi missed all their attempts.
India sealed a 3-0 win in the bowl-out, which later proved to be critical in India advancing to the next stage of the tournament.
“Kuch aisa tha (It was something like that). Operation Sindoor,” the BJP wrote on X, a not-so-subtle reference comparing Pakistan’s failed attempts in cricket to its equally unsuccessful military retaliation following Operation Sindoor.
कुछ ऐसा था #OperationSindoor ???????? pic.twitter.com/loNaMGLsJs
— BJP (@BJP4India) May 15, 2025
In 2007, the Super Over hadn’t been introduced. Tied T20 matches were instead decided by a bowl-out, a format similar to football’s penalty shootout. Each team nominated five bowlers to aim at the stumps without a batter. The team with the most hits would win. In the high-pressure match in 2007, India’s bowlers delivered with precision while Pakistan missed entirely.
The cricket-themed dig came days after India carried out Operation Sindoor in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on May 7, in retaliation for the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, which killed 26 people.
Operation Sindoor targeted nine terror camps linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, deep inside Pakistan and in the PoK. More than 100 terrorists were killed in the operation.
Following this, Pakistan attempted a retaliatory attack using drones and missiles aimed at Indian military installations and civilian areas, but none hit their intended targets. India’s air defence systems successfully intercepted every threat.
After days of tensions, India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire on May 10.