India defeated South Africa in a nail-biting contest held at the Kensington Oval in Barbados to win their second ever ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title. In a see-saw affair with the match wildly swinging from one camp to another, India bowlers held their nerves and overcame a Heinrich Klaasen blitz in the middle overs to successfully defend 177 and also end their 11-year-long wait for an ICC title.
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Chasing 177, South Africa lost the plot despite being in a dominant position at one stage as they were limited to 168/8 in 20 overs with India eking out an eight-win win.
India were dominant throughout the competition, storming into the final unbeaten with wins over the likes of Pakistan, Australia, Bangladesh among others. South Africa won all their matches en rout to the final too but they were tested on multiple occasions forcing them to find a way out of trouble.
On Saturday, they lost the coin toss and then Virat Kohli led a blazing start with three boundaries in the first over of the match, bowled by Marco Jansen. Captain Rohit then peeled off a couple of fours off Keshav Maharaj.
And South Africa found a way back from it. Rohit was caught while sweeping as was Rishabh Pant in the same over of Maharaj. Suryakumar Yadav pulled and found a fielder and soon India were left struggling at 34/3.
Virat Kohli then adopted cautious approach and that he was able to do so was thanks to Axar Patel’s enterprising innings as India recovered to post 176/7 in 20 overs.
Axar struck 47 off 31 and Kohli, as Rohit and Rahul Dravid predicted, saved his best for the big game as he top-scored with 76 off 59 to help India with a competitive total.
Kohli and Axar added 72 runs for the fourth wicket. The dismissal of Axar via a run out brought an end to their association.
Kohli, who struck four fours in the Powerplay and is his next boundary, a six, came in the 18th over, when he launched the first delivery of the over from Kagiso Rabada for a six over long on. This was after he brought up his first half-century of the tournament off 48 deliveries.
Axar though made sure to keep the innings from going off track as he negotiated the South African spinners effectively.
Shivam Dube (27 off 16) came into the middle before the start of death overs and produced a breezy cameo to keep India’s push towards a 170-plus total. Kohli accelerated towards the end as India collected 58 runs with the loss of three wickets in the final five overs.
And then it was the turn of the bowlers with Jasprit Bumrah taking the lead when he produced a peach of a delivery to clean up Reeza Hendricks on 4 in the second over. Arshdeep Singh then had South Africa captain Aiden Markram caught behind on 4 before Quinton de Kock and Tristan Stubbs stabilised the chase and brought their team back in the contest.
With Stubbs (31 off 21) finding boundaries regularly, Axar provided the breakthrough when he got rid of him in the 9th over to put the game in the balance.
And when Quinton de Kock (39 off 31) exited, India took a sigh of relief. However, Heinrich Klaasen then put South Africa in control when he creamed Axar for 22 runs (24 overall with two wides) in the 15th over.
That mayhem left South Africa needing 30 off 30 and India on the backfoot.
Rohit summoned Bumrah and he delivered. A four-run over put pressure back on South Africa and the result was Klaasen (52 off 27) edging one behind to be caught off Pandya in the 17th over.
The next two overs resulted in just six runs and it left them needing 16 off last six.
Pandya was asked to bowl the final over and in David Miller South Africa still had hope. Miller launched the first delivery high over the bowler’s head but Suryakumar Yadav produced one of the greatest catches in history given the circumstances to seal the deal,
Surya first rushed across the take the catch at long-off and with the momentum pushing him out of the field, he threw the ball back in the field of play and recovered his balance to return and complete the catch.
Next man Rabada then edged the first delivery he faced for four runs to keep things interesting but off the next four, South Africa could only muster four runs besides losing another wicket as Indian players broke into tears to celebrate the title triumph.
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