India ended years of disappointment and heartbreak with a seven-run win over South Africa in a truly incredible final to regain the T20 World Cup after 17 years on Saturday. The Men in Blue kept their nerve at the crunch while the Proteas squandered a golden opportunity to land their maiden global title.
Both India and South Africa were unbeaten going into the summit clash and the final at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, lived up to expectations. It was a dream start for India after Rohit Sharma opted to bat. Virat Kohli, who was going through a lean patch, struck three fours in Marco Jansen's opening over. Rohit hit two fours from Keshav Maharaj's first two deliveries and India were 23/0 after just eight balls. But the seasoned left-arm spinner sent back Rohit and Rishabh Pant in the same over to reduce India to 23/2. Soon it got worse for India as Kagiso Rabada scalped the dangerous Suryakumar Yadav to leave them reeling at 34/3 in the fifth over.
The Indian think tank's ploy to send in Axar Patel at No. 5 paid rich dividends. The left-hander has been in good form and he counterattacked, with Kohli going steady at the other end. The 72-run stand was broken as wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock's brilliant direct hit caught Axar short of his crease. However, Axar's 47 off 31 balls made sure India were on course for a fighting total.
Kohli upped the ante after cosuming 48 balls to get to his maiden fifty in this edition. Kohli added 26 more off just 11 balls and he along with Shivam Dube (16-ball 27) took India to 176/7. It was the highest total in a World Cup final. The Indians plundered 101 runs from the last 10 overs.
Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh struck early to peg South Africa back. But opener de Kock and Tristan Stubbs put on 58 for the third wicket and took the attack to the Indian spinners before Axar castled the latter for 31. Then it was the Heinrich Klaasen show. He added 34 with de Kock and single-handedly threatened to take the game away from India. India's star spinner Kuldeep went for 45 runs in his quota while Klassen took 24 off Axar's final over, which included a couple of wides. At this stage, the Proteas needed only 30 off the final five overs.
A desperate Rohit brought back his trump card Bumrah who gave away only four runs in his third over. But still the equation was very much in favour of the chasing team. Then there was break of play with wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant being attended to by the physio. Klaasen (52 off 27 balls) nicked one off Pandya on resumption of play.
The Indian bowlers seized the momentum. Pandya gave away only four off the 17th over. Bumrah conceded just two off the next one and also accounted for Jansen. Arshdeep went for only four in the penultimate over. South Africa needed 16 off Pandya's final over and their hopes rested on David Miller. However, Suryakumar pulled off a sensational catch on the boundary off the first ball to decisively swing the game in India's favour. It was a steep task for Rabada and Maharaj as India triumphed in a humdinger just like they prevailed over Pakistan in the final of the inaugural edition in 2007. India also became the first team to emerge champions with an unbeaten record.
The Indian spin trio of Kuldeep, Axar and Jadeja leaked 106 from their nine overs with a solitary wicket as opposed to the pace trio of Bumrah, Arshdeep and Pandya who stifled the batters by giving away a miserly 58 from 11 overs while scalping seven.
It was the perfect farewell gift for outgoing head coach Rahul Dravid. Soon Rohit and Kohli announced their retirement from T20Is. Rohit led from the front and Kohli raised his game in the final. The duo will be relieved at ending India's trophy drought. Rohit was also a member of the Indian team which triumphed in Johannesburg, while it was the first T20 World Cup medal for Kohli.
It was a case of so near yet so far for South Africa. The defeat will hurt Aiden Markram & Co. But they would have learnt the hard lesson from their maiden maiden World Cup final that never ever relax in a big game.
