India, the Super Power of international cricket, can now boast of that power on the field as well as clinched the Twenty20 World Cup to prove they are the world’s best team in the shorter format. The wait of 1.428 billion people is over as Rohit Sharma lifted the trophy on a breezy and partly cloudy afternoon in Barbados. Minutes before they had turned the match on its head with a wicket of Heinrich Klaasen. Then they squeezed the target to 16 off the final over and with the first ball of that 20th over David Miller was smartly caught at the boundary to seal the match.
Minutes later, man-of-the-match Virat Kohli announced he has had enough of Twenty20 international cricket and that he will not be seen on the field of a T20Is. Minutes later, skipper Rohit Sharma followed suit and a day later allrounder Ravindra Jadeja also put curtains on his T20I career.
Head coach Rahul Dravid, who bowed out as captain on the same shores of the Caribbean after India crashed out of the 2007 World Cup in the first round, said goodbye to his post. He was one of many unlucky cricketers not to have won an ICC trophy as a player but redemption came on Saturday with a trophy in a format that he never mastered.
When the ninth edition of the T20I World Cup began the big question was why despite a wealth of talented players, they have not won an ICC Trophy since their 2013 Champions Trophy victory in the UK. With enormous talent, money and slick organisation, India was not winning an ICC trophy. They stumbled in critical moments, losing the 2014 T20I World Cup final to Sri Lanka in Bangladesh, and two ODI World Cup semi-finals in 2015 and 2019. They came a cropper in the semi-final of the T20I World Cup in 2022. The closest they came was in the 2023 World Cup, losing the final to Australia in Ahmedabad in front of a mammoth home crowd.
They were once again favourites in the ninth edition of the Twenty20 World Cup. The prima donnas of international cricket were pre-tournament favourites. In the difficult conditions of the USA, India came out unscathed. They beat Ireland easily but had to use all their energy and guile to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against arch-rivals Pakistan. With most of the bases in terms of playing on slow and low pitches covered, India outshone Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Australia to enter the semi-finals. In that penultimate stage, they thumped England to settle scores, having lost to them in the 2022 World Cup semi-final.
The final pitted two teams remarkably known for choking at the last stage. South Africa had spurned as many as seven chances and were famously labelled as “chokers” of international cricket. India too had now won five finals — the 2014 T20I World Cup, 2017 Champions Trophy, two Test championship finals in 2021 and 2023 and last year’s ODI World Cup final.
It seemed South Africa would clinch their first title with just 26 needed off the last four overs. Klaasen was in a punishing mood, having knocked a 23-ball half-century. But Indian captain Rohit had not lost hope. Just like Jasprit Bumrah gave India a sniff of victory with the wicket of Mohammad Rizwan in the Pakistan game, Hardik Panday did an encore by dismissing Klaasen in the 17th over. The match turned on its head. Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh furthered the task for South Africa as 16 were needed in the final over. Pandya fetched Miller’s wicket with a superb catch at the boundary line by Suryakumar to seal the match and tournament for India.
Rohit was truly ecstatic, falling to the ground and did not stand for some time.
“This has to be the greatest time, I can say that,” Rohit said at the press conference. “It’s only because of how desperately I wanted to win this. So, all the runs, all the runs that I’ve scored in all these years, I think it does matter, but I’m not big on stats and all of that. I think winning games for India, winning trophies for India, that is what I look forward to all the time. And having this now right beside me probably has to be, I don’t know, honestly, I don’t know if it’s the greatest or what but it is definitely one of the greatest, I can say that.”
While India had the wherewithal to win the trophy — both in batting and bowling — one man stood out for his impact. That was spearhead Bumrah. He was so aptly and deservedly declared ‘player of the tournament’ for his 15 wickets. But more than his wickets was his impact. He gave away just 4.17 runs per over — the best economy of all the bowlers with more than ten wickets. The crucial moments in which he gave breakthroughs to his team were immeasurable. Rohit rightly acknowledged his fast bowler’s impact. “I don’t know how much I can talk about Bumrah,” Rohit said of Bumrah. “Obviously, we’ve been seeing this with him for such a long time now. Whenever he has the ball in his hand, he tends to create magic for us every time. I am very lucky to have players like this in my squad. Players who are playing for me and Team India. Really, really grateful.”
Dravid, whose coaching tenure ends with the triumph, rightly put it as ‘hard work of years’ that has come to fruition. “Honestly, this is a journey of two years,” said Dravid. “This is not a journey from just this T20 World Cup. When I think about the construction of this team, the kind of skills we wanted, the players we wanted, those discussions started in September -November 2021. So it’s two years of work. This is not the work of just this World Cup. I think it culminated in this World Cup. The disappointment in Australia [at the 2022 T20 World Cup] and then the one-day World Cup – there’s so much that has gone into it. This feels like a journey of not just one month, it feels like a journey of two years. What we’ve tried to build, what we have tried to create, it feels like it has all come together here on a beautiful afternoon in Barbados.”
India UP, Pakistan DOWN
The Twenty20 World Cup also highlighted the different trajectories of India and Pakistan cricket in the last two years. Pakistan reached the final of the 2022 World Cup. India crashed out of the semi-final. But the next two years have seen the Indian team rising to new heights. Pakistan has nosedived in terms of results and style of play. India has so many reserves to fill in the shoes of Kohli, Rohit and Jadeja in T20Is. Pakistan will have to search for replacements. There are very few. India’s system is nearly impeccable, and Pakistan’s chaotic style of running the affairs is problematic. As India celebrates the triumph with a bright future ahead. Pakistan looks for answers.
