Team India celebrates with the trophy after winning the ICC men's Twenty20 World Cup 2024 final cricket match between India and South Africa at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, on June 29, 2024. - AFP
YEARS of coming so close and yet so far. At last, after so many years, India considered the most flamboyant team in world cricket, got its hands on a world title.
It has been painful for some but all that just went away after India secured their second Twenty20 World Cup title with a dramatic seven-run win over South Africa on Saturday night, the result still in doubt at the start of the final over of an electrifying match.
But they did it and what a way to win the final match of a top class event. By just seven runs and nothing was assured up until the 119th ball of the 120-ball game. It was just that close.
A match that many crickets will always remember and savour. A match between two unbeaten teams, who by far were the best performers and outrightly deserve their spot in the last match of the tournament.
At the end and after the victory, there was no wild celebration. The Indian players mostly just sank on the ground thanking god for their victory, just plain relieved that the title was theirs. And no more going home in shame and the media turning on them and calling them 'chokers'.
It has been painful. Since winning the 2011 50-overs World Cup, everything slipped off their hands at the final moment.
Fans hold Indian national flags as they celebrate India's victory at the 2024 ICC men's Twenty20 World Cup, at India gate in New Delhi on June 29, 2024. - AFP
Just take the last three years for instance. They made the finals of the World Test Championships twice and lost them both. They also made the 50-overs World Cup held in India last year. They lost that too and not to mention so many other world events.
In India last year, the home side was unbeaten from day one until the final match and then they lost it to arch-rivals Australia in the final at the world's biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.
At the 2019 50-overs World Cup, by far, India was the best team with world class players, and yet again they lost. This time in the semifinals.
But all those bad memories were just forgotten on Saturday night. All that was gone. India won all their matches enroute to the final and they proved again that they are a hard nut to crack. This time, they were the team who could subdue their opponents (for the record, South Africa was also unbeaten up until that match.)
And it was a history-making victory too. India was the only team to stay unbeaten throughout the tournament and bag the World Cup T20 title.
Just like Brazil in football, when it comes to cricket, India is favourite in just about every other tournament they participate. They have landed the big one that all top crickets teams want on Saturday night. And the team has promised they will go all out to continue their winning ways in the near future.
It was indeed a grand win. So much so, AFP reported fans in blue India jerseys shed tears of joy and danced on tabletops at a sports bar in New Delhi on Saturday as Rohit Sharma's team edged South Africa to win the T20 World Cup and end a global title drought.
There was such celebration is just about every corner of the country. Why not, India won a thrilling final to clinch their first major title since the 2013 Champions Trophy.
India last won a World Cup in 2011 at home under M.S. Dhoni, who earlier led the team to a T20 World Cup trophy in the inaugural edition in 2007.
Star batsman Virat Kohli played a knock for the ages in his 59-ball 76 to guide India to 176-7, a total their bowlers defended by restricting the Proteas to 169-8.
"It's an out-of-the-world feeling," Abhishek Bhagat, a 34-year-old software professional on a visit to Delhi from Belgium, told AFP outside the sports bar.
"I experienced it as a child in 2007 and then again in 2011 and now again in 2024. It's been a long, long wait and I can't tell you how much fun we will have."
Kohli, 35, announced his retirement from international T20 matches in his man-of-the-match speech, and Bhagat said: "King Kohli is a player who performs when it matters."
Another fan, Rajneesh Duggal said: "It's a proud moment for every Indian. It is a fitting finale for outgoing coach Rahul Dravid and for Kohli. Hope Rohit stays on."
However, Rohit also called it quits from T20 matches for India soon after Kohli's announcement as Indian cricket suffered two major shocks after the triumph.
Thousands of fans took to the streets and drove past the iconic India Gate shouting "Long live India" slogans from their cars and bikes.
India have faltered in the knockout stages of International Cricket Council (ICC) events, despite being ranked number one in both T20s and one-day internationals (ODIs) and number two in Tests.
But the team held their nerves in a close final, and pace bowler Hardik Pandya kept calm to defend 16 runs off the last over.
South Africa, who played their first-ever World Cup final, looked set for the target when they needed 30 from the last five overs but Indian bowlers put the choke on.
A fan holds a smoke bombs as he celebrates India's victory at the 2024 ICC men's Twenty20 World Cup, at India gate in New Delhi on June 29, 2024. - AFP
- Prayers answered -
According to AFP - Emotional scenes followed as fans hugged each other at the sports bar, danced on tabletops and ran out to celebrate on the streets at midnight.
News channels repeatedly showed images Saturday of fans holding Hindu fire rituals to urge the gods to take the team to victory over South Africa.
Some featured pictures bedecked with flower garlands of Rohit, who has hit three half-centuries in the tournament, holding the World Cup trophy.
India knocked out defending champions England in the semi-final in Guyana and remained unbeaten in the tournament.
Rohit was part of India's T20 World Cup triumph in the inaugural edition in 2007, while Kohli won the ODI prize under Dhoni in 2011.
That was India's previous World Cup triumph, when Dhoni lifted the trophy at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium and the country erupted in joy.
Two years later, Dhoni's team beat hosts England in the 50-over Champions Trophy final but fans had to wait for 11 years for another major title.
India lost in the semi-finals of the 2019 ODI World Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup, before last year's ODI final defeat again left fans heartbroken. Now they can really celebrate like never before.
Fans celebrate after India's victory in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup final cricket match against South Africa, in Chandigarh on June 29, 2024. India won a thrilling final by seven runs in Barbados on June 29 to clinch their first major title since the 2013 Champions Trophy. - AFP
