BY DHIREN SHAH
What a match! It was unusual and nerve breaking for both sides and their fans. When it all ended, India defeated South Africa by 7 runs in the closest finale at 2024 T20 World Cup Cricket tournament in Barbados on Saturday June 29, 2024. Both were unbeaten teams in the 2024 tournament up to that point.
The men in blue (India) won the toss and elected to bat first. Not long into their at-bat, they lost the wickets of captain Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav. Instead of sending their regular batsman, Sharma sent Axar Patel, which proved to be a good decision. Virat Kohli and Axar Patel played nicely and brought the total to 106 when Axar Patel was runout by his own mistake. Shivam Dube gave good stance with Virat Kohli and took the total to 163 for 5. Finally, India posted a good score of 176 in 20 overs (120 balls).
Now came South Africa. India started good by taking 2 wickets in 12 runs. Slowly and gradually, SA made 106 runs when they lost the wickets of their wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, with 30 balls left to make 30 runs, they had Heinrich Klaasen up (50 in 23 balls) one of the best in the world.
Usually, when there are 12 balls left, many teams in T20 can make 30 runs. But captain Rohit Sharma gave the ball to Jasprit Bumrah. He made a miracle hold on SA to stop them from scoring runs. After that, Sharma gave ball to Hardik Pandya who took the wicket of Klaasen which gave a little hope for India to win. The last 3 overs were crucial, and Bumrah and Arshadeep Singh did the rest of the job, holding South Africa to no runs at a crucial stage of the game, helping India to win by 7.
Virat Kohli, who made 76 runs in 59 balls and promptly retired from T20 after the victory, was the player of the match and Bumrah was the player of the series. Jasprit Bumrah (2/18), Hardik Pandya (3/20) and Arshdeep Singh (2/20) were key contributors for India’s Bowling attacks.
After 11 years, India is holding the World Cup Championship Trophy. Australia, the six-time champion, did not even make it to the semifinal, while the United States and Afghanistan did get there. Now, the top 8 teams who reached the semifinals will automatically qualify for the next World Cup in 2026, which will be hosted jointly by champion India and Sri Lanka.
