Former Indian head coach Rahul Dravid recalled Suryakumar Yadav’s brilliant catch in the T20 World Cup 2024 final against South Africa. Suryakumar Yadav took a stunning catch to dismiss David Miller and it was a game-changing moment. SKY took the most important catch of his career on the first ball of the final over, which was bowled by all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
Yadav ran to his left, took the catch, released the ball in time, went out of the boundary, came back into the playing area, and completed a high-pressure catch. Miller was a big wicket as he was settled, and India registered a thrilling seven-run win to break their major ICC title hoodoo.
“You know, Suryakumar Yadav, amazing guy, brilliant guy. You know, of course, the fact that Suryakumar Yadav is in that position [long off], these are, these are really good tactics, right? He’s one of our best catchers. Tremendously calm under pressure. So, he’s in the right place at the right time. All the time, he’s there. But still, his ability to keep his leg within one inch of the rope, that’s not something you see a thousand times. You do it all the time [in practice]. But it’s still an element of luck in that,” Dravid said on Cricbuzz.
On the other hand, Dravid also praised former Indian skipper Rohit Sharma’s leadership in the previous T20I showpiece. Dravid said Rohit showed great calmness under pressure in the high-octane final against the Proteas. South Africa needed a run-a-ball in the last five overs but India was able to bounce back.
“We get into that kind of a position where we sort of have our backs to the wall. And that’s where I thought Rohit showed great calmness, and a great show of leadership. Because, he showed, in those five overs, he showed the calmness, he showed great technical knowledge, or tactical knowledge, of understanding that, ‘hey, the game’s running away from me.”
“We probably wanted to have [Jasprit] Bumrah and Arshdeep [Singh] to bowl the last two overs, but the game was slipping away from us, and we needed to get these guys back in,” he added.
India will begin their T20 World Cup 2026 campaign against the USA on February 7.
