Bowlers and SKY’s catch deliver India T20 World Cup glory

Rohit Sharma’s victorious Indian cricket team ended an 11-year drought by defeating South Africa by seven runs in a thrilling T20 World Cup final in Barbados on Saturday, giving them their first ICC trophy since 2013 and second T20 World Cup title since the first installment back in 2007. 

The result extended the Proteas’ three-decade history of heartbreak at World Cups, after Virat Kohli marked his final T20 international appearance with a vital innings of 76 and India’s pacers, led by the indefatigable Jasprit Bumrah, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. 

South Africa appeared to be cruising towards a target of 177 with 30 runs needed off 30 balls, with six wickets in hand and a rampaging Heinrich Klaasen striking at 200. But his wicket, the first of three to Hardik Pandya, sparked a collapse that left South Africa needing 16 runs from six balls to lift a major ICC trophy for the first time since 1998. 

That is when Suryakumar Yadav held onto arguably the greatest catch ever in a T20 match, given the stakes at play, by taking a juggling effort just inside the boundary line to get rid of the dangerous David Miller. That catch and the final over bowled by Pandya capped an epic comeback for India after the match looked like South Africa’s for the taking. 

India had 176 to defend after the Player of the Match Kohli top-scored with 76 off 59 balls following a score line of 34 /3 inside five overs, which included the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant to Keshav Maharaj in the second over. 

Despite the loss of opener Reeza Hendricks and skipper Aiden Markram to slip to 12 for 2 in their chase, South Africa looked set to overhaul a target of 177 after Klaasen smashed Axar Patel for 24 runs in the 15th over, in the process getting to 52 off 27 balls and get the equation down to a very gettable 30 from 30 balls. However, once Pandya came back and found Klaasen’s edge off the first ball of the 17th over, Bumrah bowled Jansen in a two-run 18th over afte which Arshdeep Singh, who took 2/20, conceded just four runs off the penultimate over to leave South Africa to get 16 off six balls.

Miller, who was on 21 off 17 balls, smacked the first ball of the last over, a full toss from Pandya, down the ground where SKY pulled off a terrific catch at long-off. Taking the ball, SKY lost balance but threw the ball back into play before he tumbled over the rope, and then pouched it again when he returned to the field. That was the catch that won India the match, as South Africa managed only eight further runs to lose by seven runs.

This meant that India became the first team in the history of the Men’s T20 World Cup to go through a tournament unbeaten. This sensational win comes seven months after Rohit’s team lost the ODI World Cup final to Australia in Ahmedabad, their only defeat in that tournament. This time, however, history would not repeat itself.

In a World Cup dominated by bowlers, it was fitting that Bumrah was declared the Player of the Serie. The pacer’s role in bowling India into the final, and then his excellent performance on the day to help turn what looked like certain defeat into an epic victory cannot be underlined enough. 

Bumrah, who missed the previous T20 World Cup in 2022 because of injury, ended the tournament with 15 wickets at an average of 8.26 and a mind-boggling economy rate of just 4.17. He started India’s campaign with successive Player-of-the Match awards in New York and then sustained his brilliance when the team shifted to the West Indies. Bumrah’s role in the semi-final win over England was solid, but what Bumrah did in the final against South Africa was unreal. 

He bowled a peach of a delivery to clean bowl Reeza Hendricks in his first over and then came back to concede just six runs across the 16th and 18th over, while taking out Jansen to finish with figures of 2/1. Indeed, it was that two-over spell which dragged India back into the game, and his superb effort ended up coming in a famous win. This is the 30-year-old’s first ICC trophy win and takes his T20I wicket tally to 89 after 70 matches, which places Bumrah at third for India overall, just one shy of drawing level with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and eight away from going past team-mate Yuzvendra Chahal. 

And it is looking like the end of era for India in T20 cricket, with Kohli and Rohit announcing their retirements from the format after India’s win over South Africa. Kohli came into the final averaging under 11 in the tournament, with 75 runs from seven innings, but on the biggest stage he delivered a fine innings of 76 off 59 deliveries in India’s total of 176/7. After India’s seven-run win, which gave them their second T20 World Cup and first since 2007, Kohli was adjudged Player of the Match and while accepting the award, the 35-year-old stated that he was quitting T20 internationals. 

Not long after that, Rohit called time as well during the press conference to end his T20I career as India’s leading run-getter with 4231 from 159 matches, apart from being the most successful centurion in the format with five. Rohit ended his T20I career as he began it back in 2007, with the T20 World Cup trophy.