Congratulations to Rohit Sharma and his team that brought joy and pride to millions of Indians across the globe by winning the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup. The side played like champions from their first match till the last and were the deserving winners. Though there were many occasions during the championship when they appeared to be on the back foot they fought back gamely to emerge on top. Even in the final, where India defeated South Africa by a narrow margin of seven runs, there were times when it appeared that the match had slipped out of their grasp, but the side managed to come back to win the game and lift the trophy.
While it is a fact that the pace of the game and its structure allows the captain to have an overwhelming say in deciding the fortunes of the side, it also remains a fact that happenings outside the field play an equally important role in maintaining the morale of the side and influencing its performance. This is where the significance of Rahul Dravid and the staff he leads come to the fore. Dravid was known to be reluctant to take up the role of the coach of the national side. He had done a splendid job with the junior side and knew the pitfalls of the same responsibility at the senior level. He had seen his friend and compatriot Anil Kumble fail in this job despite having all the required pedigree and credentials. It was widely rumoured that Sourav Ganguly, then heading Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had coaxed Dravid to take up the challenge. And once he did took this up, there was no turning back.
The victory on Saturday was the icing on the cake for this gentlemen cricketer, who had pushed the superstars of the national side out of their comfort zones and forced them to keep challenging themselves to attain greater heights as a team. He had experienced the agony attached with defeat on November 19, 2023, when, after dominating the championship completely, the team went down tamely to Australia in the final of the ICC World Cup at Ahmedabad. It would have pained him severely to see all the efforts of the previous months go down the drain due to a lacklustre performance on one day. His term as the coach was set to end after November but he stayed back to ensure that the team bounced back and lifted the next world championship that they played in.
In a way, this victory also could have helped to erase some of the pain associated with the defeats that India suffered at Port of Spain, Trinidad, against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the 2007 World Cup which led to the exit of the side from the championship without even reaching the Super Eight stage. One will never forget the picture of Dravid, then leading the side, shedding a tear as he rose up from the chair with a forlorn expression on his face after the last Indian wicket fell in the game against Sri Lanka that pushed India out of the tournament. The sight of the charged up coach jumping up and pumping the fist in air after the last ball was bowled in the final against South Africa brought a smile of sheer happiness to all those who had witnessed the sad moment in 2007. This also strengthened the belief that the Almighty has his own ways to ensure that nice guys do not always finish last.
The shining star behind India’s victory was undoubtedly Jasprit Bumrah, who was presented with the player of the tournament. As the master of ceremonies said, its was only very rarely that a bowler won this award in a format of the game loaded heavily in favour of the batsmen. Bumrah was easily the best bowler in this championship and looked like taking a wicket whenever he came on to bowl. He provided the breakthrough when Pakistan appeared to be gaining the upper hand in the match in the group phase, when he clean bowled a well settled Mohamed Rizwan to swing the tide in favour of India. In the final, he started by dismissing Reeza Hendricks with a peach of a delivery and ensured that South Africa did not get off to a good start. But it was his second spell that brought India back into the game when the opponents appeared to have got it under control, well and proper.
The 16th over bowled by Bumrah was the real turning point of the game in favour of India. Though he did not pick him any wickets in this over, his unbridled aggression with the ball helped to check the momentum of the chase that had seen South Africa push the score along at a comfortable pace. But Bumrah’s over, wherein he gave away only four runs, threw Heinrich Klaasen, who was batting brilliantly till then, off balance. So much so that when Hardik Pandya started the next over, Klaasen reached out to a juicy half volley way beyond the off stump and succeeded in edging it to the wicketkeeper. All the fears and worries that South Africa nursed in their minds came to the fore at this point and they froze, leading to losing their way badly after this. In the next over by Bumrah, where he clean bowled Marco Janson, the South Africans showed how desperate they were to play out his overs. Such was the fear cast by this lanky speedster in the South African camp. Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya were the beneficiaries of the terror that Bumrah stuck in the minds of opposing sides that they enjoyed a feast of wickets on account of the batsmen taking chances against them in attempts to push the score along.
Rohit should get credit for leading the side with elan and panache. He led the way with an outstanding innings against Australia where he struck 92 runs off only 41 balls and took the wind out of their sails. He did not make a wrong move as skipper throughout this championship and his handling of Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav, his main strike bowlers, was perfect. He did not allow the side to lose it focus and ensured that there were no drooping of shoulders when things appeared difficult. He had gone through a bad patch during the Indian Premier League (IPL) when he was removed as captain of Mumbai Indians and suffered a lean phase with the bat as well. He redeemed himself during this tournament and could achieve his long time ambition of leading the national side to a title triumph in an ICC championship.
Virat Kohli was the butt of many jokes on account of his patchy performance with the bat till the final. But he rose to the occasion when it mattered the most and held the Indian innings together with a superb knock after the early exit of Rohit and Rishabh Pant. Similarly Axar Patel contributed handsomely in all the matches, picking up wickets and scoring useful runs, like he did in the final. Further, one cannot forget the excellent catch he took to dismiss Mitchell Marsh in the match against Australia, when the Aussie skipper threatened to win the game for his side singlehandedly.
Speaking of catches, the one taken by Suryakumar Yadav at the long off fence, to dismiss David Miller, in the last over of the match will remain etched in the minds of all those who saw the match. The manner in which he held the ball after running many yards to reach it and threw it in the air when he saw that he may step over the boundary and then ran inside the field to complete the catch was nothing short of brilliant. The athleticism, confidence and presence of mind that he displayed while doing this stood as testament to the self belief that was instilled in the side, besides the high levels of physical fitness of every player.
Finally, a word about the South Africans. With 26 runs required off 24 balls and only over from Bumrah remaining, it was their match to lose and yet they somehow managed it. The side had conquered the tag of “chokers” that had plagued them since 1999 by wining some tight games in this championship without any show of nerves. They had mounted a well planned chase in the final also till the side came apart after the 15th over. Klaasen will never forgive himself for the rush of blood that saw him lose his wicket to a poor shot at a critical juncture. Though they can take some comfort from the fact that they managed to break a mental glass ceiling by reaching the final of a World Cup for the first time ever, some more work remains before they can win a title. One hopes that this happens quickly enough as it is grossly unfair for an outstanding international side to remain eternally hungry for a global title.
(The author is a former international cricket umpire and a retired bureaucrat)
