T20 World Cup: India end long title drought after final for the ages against South Africa | Cricket News
Before the clouds over Kensington Oval burst into rain, emotions poured onto the ground. When Hardik Pandya, with South Africa needing 10 off two balls, dismissed Kagiso Rabada, Rohit Sharma’s men couldn’t hold their emotions back.This was the moment they knew. They wouldn’t care whatever happened after. Their memory would pause at this moment. It was the moment India ended its 13-year wait for a World Cup, this was the hour when they reclaimed the crown of gold they last kissed 17 years ago. And how it was won! In one of the most dramatic T20 finals of all time a margin of mere seven runs.
Virat Kohli, the batting hero in the most important T20 game of his career, closed his eyes and looked skywards in pure bliss. Rohit Sharma pumped his fs in joy. He might have been emotionally drained but still mustered the bounce and energy to celebrate. Tears rolled down Hardik Pandya’s cheeks; he was the pantomime villain in the build-up to the tournament. Even the picture of restraint, Rahul Dravid, in his last match as head coach, raised his hands. Suryakumar Yadav wrapped his palms over his face, moments after he had plucked one of the greatest catches in World Cup hory.
The destinies of Sharma and MS Dhoni met finally. But it was a most nerve-shredding wait. India had to win the final several times, with South Africa refusing to accept it was Rohit’s destiny to get his hands on the trophy, that it was somehow preordained. It will go down as the finest T20 World Cup final ever, the most pulsating one, the drama and pathos of the final stages dizzying and disorienting.
From start to end, the game flowed wickedly, initiative exchanging hands like the fickle weather in the tournament. But the scope for drama seemed to end when Klaasen-led fury whittled the target down to a run-a-ball 30. Sharma threw the last throw of the dice, and reintroduced Jasprit Bumrah. His typical fire-and-brimstone over leaked only four runs, and reminded South Africa that they had to get past him if they were to march towards the podium. Nerves suddenly began to jangle, fear kicked in, panic passed .
India could feel an irresible wave of energy, which exploded into genuine belief when Pandya had the indestructible Klaasen, on 52 off 26 balls. slashing at a wide ball and bottom-edging to Rishabh Pant. How Klaasen would regret the shot, how it would come to embody South Africa’s flakiness in crunch moments. The curse drags on; Klaasen would be as much of a tragic hero as Lance Klusener.
Window of opportunity
It was the ray of hope India were looking for. Bumrah stormed in to complete his quota. The target was still within South Africa’s reach — 22 off 18 balls with David Miller still around — but Bumrah seized the moment sending six thunderbolts, each could have bought a wicket on their day. Two runs and Marco Jansen’s wicket, the intrigue intensified. It was a reverse-seaming dervish, slamming the upper pads and crashing onto the stumps.
Great balls keep emerging from Bumrah’s stable — the away-swinger to nail Reeza Hendricks earlier could be the ball of the tournament. To describe Bumrah as the world’s greatest all-format bowler is an understatement. He is one bowler in many, unpeeling his masks to his whims. He is a grandmaster in the blitz with the white ball, he sets up batsmen in the twitch of an eyelid, traps them even before they realise they have been trapped. With the new ball, he operates with the precise mastery of a surgeon, in the middle phase, he is the imposing enforcer, flexing his muscles like an angry bouncer in a pub, and at the death, he is the cold-eyed sniper.
When the batsmen negotiate Bumrah, the wiry frame of Arshdeep Singh streams into the eye-line. Everything turns upside down, the angle, pace, release, tricks, bounce, movement. He doesn’t exude the smouldering fear as Bumrah does, but underestimating him is inviting self-harm. His extra degree of movement deceived Aiden Markram, whose attempt to hit on the rise was foiled. And now, he had to ensure that he conceded as few runs as possible in the 19th over. Six accurate balls, the last an inch-perfect wide yorker ensured that South Africa required a formidable 16 runs off the last over.
But anything was possible with David Miller around. He almost dragged them back into the game with a meaty clump that almost soared into the sight-screen before Surya intervened. The ball was traversing in a fast and flat trajectory, but just before it crossed the rope, Surya stretched his right hand, while still running. When he realised he would lose balance, he flung the ball as high as possible, gathered his poise, leapt over the rope, returned to the field in time to calmly collect the game.
He has unfurled an array of otherworldly strokes, but it’s the moment that would come to define him forever. South Africa’s last lingering hope was cruelly stubbed. And one could not but empathise with them, in how close they ran India, how close they came to enter the promised land, how near they were to end their hory of suffering and heartbreak. But Barbados, where they had lost their first Test upon reintegration in a similar manner, would be their shore or sorrow.
But for India, it would be relief, catharsis, even purgation.
