Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav recalled Suryakumar Yadav’s iconic catch in the 2024 T20 World Cup final against South Africa. The Proteas needed 16 runs to win in the last over, which was bowled by Hardik Pandya. David Miller smashed a wide low full toss to long off boundary but SKY was able to take the catch, release the ball before crossing the boundary and then came back into the playing area to complete a memorable catch.
It was a pressure situation but SKY was able to keep his calm. The decision, as expected, was referred to the third umpire and Kuldeep revealed that the discussion in the huddle was about SKY’s historic catch.
Speaking to RevSportz, Kuldeep said, “I was fielding at deep fine leg. The talk in the huddle was whether his foot touched the boundary ropes or not. And once when we watched the replays, there was a huge sigh of relief and we started feeling that the match will be in our favor.”
Meanwhile, Kuldeep had an impressive run in the 2024 T20I showpiece, picking 10 wickets in five matches. The wrist-spinner picked Harry Brook’s wicket as his favorite in the semifinal against England, which India won comprehensively by 68 runs.
“I enjoyed picking up the wicket of Harry Brook. He plays spin well and was batting well at that moment. The wicket of [Glenn] Maxwell was also important in the context of the match, and those two wickets I got against Afghanistan as well,” stated Kuldeep.
On the other hand, Kuldeep showered praise on Virat Kohli for stepping up in the final. Kohli could only muster 75 runs in the seven matches but played a match-winning knock of 76 runs off 59 balls in the summit clash against SA.
“It was evident once again that when the situation demands in a crunch match, the big players step up. And Virat bhai showed why he is regarded as a great player. Rohit bhai also batted well throughout the tournament. His knock against Australia was brilliant,” said Kuldeep.
“He played a great knock which brought us into the match. It had class written over. We did not feel we would reach a score of 175 runs. But thanks to his brilliance, we ended up scoring 176. He took 16 runs against Rabada which gave us the momentum. When the situation demanded, he scored and that is the hallmark of a big player.”
Kohli was awarded Player of the Match for his fine knock.
