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India T20 World Champions: How it all clicked for the men in blue
Summary
India's long wait for a World Cup ended spectacularly with the T20 win, but it could have all gone wrong quite easily
It was third time lucky for Virat Kohli and India in the T20 World Cup 2024 final in Bridgetown, Barbados on 29 June. Kohli’s 50s in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final and 2023 ODI World Cup final at strike rates of 125 and 86, respectively, had ended in losses for India. This time, his anchor role at a strike rate of 129 led to a win, just about.
In the euphoria of a World Cup trophy after a long wait of 13 years, it may appear churlish to ask if India won despite Kohli’s risk-free approach or because of it. Had India lost the game, which they came very close to doing, Kohli’s old modus operandi would surely have come into question. He did not attempt a single boundary from the fourth over till the 18th over. He resumed hitting only after getting a 50.
You might say his role of a sheet anchor was justified after India lost three quick wickets to loose shots in the first three overs. But going 14 overs without a boundary in a T20 game on a good batting surface, can only be justified if the team wins miraculously.
Commentators said India’s score of 176 was above par for that ground. But as former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop said in the pitch report, the surface had been rolled a lot for the final, which made it more batting-friendly than normal. And Australia got 201 against England at that venue earlier in the tournament.
Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja could face only two balls each in the final, which suggests that India underutilised the team’s batting resources. One could argue that India had a more than even chance of getting to 200 on that wicket with a positive approach from both ends. Axar Patel and Shivam Dube partially made up for Kohli’s run-a-ball march to 50 but it almost proved deficient.
South Africa implode, again
With 30 to get in 30 balls with six wickets in hand and the well-set power-hitters Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller in the middle, the World Cup was South Africa’s for the taking. The miraculous turnaround in India’s favour began with the first ball of the 17th over.
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After a pause in play for wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant’s knee to be taped, Pandya cleverly bowled a slow, wide off-cutter to Klaasen, who doesn’t move his feet much. The burly South African tried to smash another backfoot six and nicked the ball to Pant instead.
Jasprit Bumrah played an indirect role in this dismissal. He had given away only four runs in the previous over and had another over up his sleeve. Klaasen’s extravagant swish at a wide ball, when only 26 runs were needed from 24 balls, was perhaps because he had Bumrah in mind.
Bumrah then lived up to his reputation with a sensational incoming missile to dismiss Marco Jansen in the 18th over which yielded only two runs. Now, with 20 to get in two overs, it was anybody’s game.
In the celebration of Bumrah and Pandya for their feats, Arshdeep Singh’s 2/20 in the final is overlooked. One of his wickets was that of the experienced South African opener, Quinton de Kock, who was anchoring the chase. Equally impactful was his composure in the 19th, which cost only four runs. It was redemption for Singh who had lost key matches for India in the past with expensive death overs.
His over left South Africa to get 16 in the final over, a possibility that was still on the cards with Miller facing Pandya. The Indian all-rounder wanted to keep the ball outside Miller’s legside hitting arc but delivered a widish full toss. Pandya’s Gujarat Titans team-mate appeared to nail it, but a miraculous catch on the boundary by Suryakumar Yadav sealed South Africa’s fate.
It was a catch for the ages in the final over of a World Cup game. Yadav held it running at full tilt, kept his body under control to remain an inch within the boundary for three steps, and threw it forward just before the momentum carried him outside the markers. Then he landed just inside the boundary to complete the catch. Nobody can forget Kapil Dev’s catch running back towards the boundary from mid-wicket to dismiss Vivian Richards in the 1983 World Cup final, but Yadav’s catch arguably required more skill and composure in a do-or-die moment.
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Apart from the brilliance of India’s pace bowlers on an easy pitch, South Africa’s proclivity to “choke" gave India victory. Probably the most hurtful of all of South Africa’s failures was losing to Australia in the 1999 ODI World Cup semi-final, where a muddled Allan Donald got himself run out with one to get in four balls. Now this loss in South Africa’s first appearance in a World Cup final is equally hard to explain.
Hardik Pandya’s redemption
Of the many sub-plots of India’s ultimate triumph, none was more poignant than Hardik Pandya’s redemption. He was pilloried throughout IPL 2024 for taking over Mumbai Indians’ captaincy from Rohit Sharma who had won five titles for the franchise. That was part of the deal to get Pandya back from Gujarat Titans after he led the new franchise to two finals and a title.
Fans felt he was ungrateful to Gujarat Titans who made him captain after Mumbai Indians decided not to retain him for IPL 2022. They saw him as being opportunistic in snatching the captaincy from Sharma.
It did not help that he underperformed after his return from the injury that made him drop out of the 2023 ODI World Cup. Mumbai Indians had their worst season under his captaincy and finished last in the league table, with 10 losses in 14 games.
Having been clobbered for a six by Klaasen in the 10th over, Pandya was the underdog in the match-up with the South African in the 17th over. But he kept his cool and used his street-smart faculties to deliver the change-up that turned the game. In the last over, Pandya had the right idea in attempting a wide yorker to Miller, but he presented a full toss. Then the gods got into the game with Yadav’s miraculous catch on the boundary.
Pandya was in tears after the match, reliving what he had endured over the previous six months of recovery from injury and a difficult IPL campaign. The likely captain of India for the next T20 World Cup at home will be stronger with this experience.
Fitting finale for Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma’s 30-run late-order cameo in 16 balls helped India win the inaugural 2007 T20 World Cup. After 17 years, his calm captaincy under pressure gave India a second T20 World Cup.
The one miscalculation he made was to give the spinners one over too many. On a fresh pitch that had been rolled flat and hard for the final, there was no spin, unlike in earlier matches on this ground. India’s strength of a spin trio turned into a liability. Between them, they conceded 106 runs in 9 overs, at nearly 12 an over, in a run chase that required less than 9 an over.
With Klaasen’s known ability to stand and deliver sixes against spinners, it was a gamble to give Axar Patel the 15th over. South Africa collected 24 runs there and got into pole position. In hindsight, Sharma had the option of bringing Pandya on earlier, because he ended up bowling just three overs out of his quota of four.
Sharma’s other blind spot was his reluctance to ask Kohli to get on with it midway in the Indian innings instead of waiting to reach a 50.
One of the greatest white ball batsmen of all time, and a quintessentially selfless player who always put team requirements ahead of personal milestones, Sharma finally got his due as India captain.
With five IPL titles, a T20 World Cup, and an ODI World Cup final, Rohit Sharma has almost as good a record as “captain cool" M.S. Dhoni. In the end, for Kohli, Pandya, Sharma and the Indian cricket team, it was a case of all’s well that ends well.
Sumit Chakraberty is a writer based in Bengaluru.
