India broke their 11-year trophy drought, turning around a dead and buried game in Barbados to beat South Africa and claim the 2024 T20 World Cup title. Here's a look at the calls and moments that decided the humdinger of a final.
South Africa opening with the bowling with Maharaj
South Africa's move to open the bowling with Keshav Maharaj looked like a mistake two balls into his over, but he turned things around soon when he dismissed Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant off the next four deliveries. South Africa had the options of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, but with two right-handers and a surface where the ball was gripping enough, the move to hand Maharaj the new ball made sense and paid dividends.
Axar and Dube promotions
Axar Patel, India's designated floater, was promoted to No.5 after Suryakumar Yadav fell in the fifth over with the score reading 34. He overshadowed Virat Kohli in a 72-run fourth-wicket partnership; made 47 off 31, his second-highest score in T20Is; and took on the South African spinners and pacers alike, hitting four sixes. It allowed Kohli to take his time and play deep into the innings.
Another promotion – or demotion, depending on your definition – was of Shivam Dube. India had used Hardik Pandya at No.5 in the semi-final when their third wicket fell in the 14th over, and Ravindra Jadeja when their fifth wicket fell in the 16th, demoting Dube to No.7. They changed plans for the final, sending Dube in at No.6 in the 14th over, despite South Africa only needing to bowl one more over of spin. Dube played his role well, scoring 27 off 16, hitting two fours and a six off pacers and a boundary off Tabraiz Shamsi. His knock went under the radar, but was a crucial one in the context of the game.
Kohli delaying the onslaught
Virat Kohli came into the game admittedly low on confidence and visibly low on runs. After knocking off three fours off his first five balls and another of his 13th, he fell back into a shell, catalysed by three early wickets. In a 72-run fourth-wicket partnership off 54 balls with Axar, he made 21 off 23 balls.
At the 10-over mark, India were 75-3. Indian fans waited in despair as Kohli spent one over after another without taking risks or going for big shots. However, Rohit revealed at the post-match presentation that Kohli was playing according to the team's requirement: "We wanted somebody to bat as long as possible."
He reached his fifty off 48 balls, the slowest of his T20I career, before breaking loose in the 18th over. He added 26 off his last 11 balls to finish on a 59-ball 76. The way South Africa cruised along during their chase, at one point, it felt that Kohli might have left the acceleration for too late, before the Indian bowlers, led by Jasprit Bumrah, pulled a rabbit out of the hat.
Klaasen taking down Axar to account for Bumrah's overs
Heinrich Klaasen came to the crease in the ninth over with South Africa needing 107 off 11.1 overs. By the start of the 15th over, he had taken them to 123-4, requiring 54 off the last six. However, two of those six overs were to be bowled by Bumrah, a fact that Klaasen took into consideration when he launched an attack for the ages on Axar Patel.
Axar came on to bowl the 15th over, his last of the game. Klaasen smacked him for a straight boundary off the back foot first ball before going six, six, four, two off the last four balls to extract 24 off the over and bring the equation down to 30 off 30 with six wickets in hand.
The assault gave South Africa the leeway to play out the two Bumrah overs cheaply – or so they would have thought before the ground slipped from under their feet.
Also read: Wisden's T20 World Cup team of the tournament
Rohit giving Bumrah the 16th and 18th; Bumrah conjuring magic
After the 24-run 15th over, Rohit had to dial the emergency contact of Bumrah. He gave only four runs in the 16th as Klaasen and David Miller thwarted his attempts to attack the stumps with a reversing old ball. But this is what South Africa had prepared themselves for by attacking Axar. The equation was still a very gettable 26 off 24.
The 16th over might have been an obvious call, but after Pandya had bowled another four-run over with the wicket of Klaasen, Rohit had to make a choice that was going to be tournament-defining. Hold Bumrah back hoping Arshdeep would slip in a cheap over, or take the lead and go for the kill, finishing Bumrah's quota in the process?
Rohit went for the latter, a move that is going to be hailed for years to come.
With the match on a knife edge and pressure and stakes at an all-time high, the Indian maestro gave two runs and took the wicket of Marco Jansen in the 18th to not only make the equation a very defendable 20 off 12 but also expose South Africa's tail and add the variable of keeping strike to Miller's calculations.
As it turned out, South Africa fell eight short of the target, thanks largely to Bumrah's second spell of 1-6 from two overs when all hope looked lost. Just routine stuff for the man.
Fine magins: The Klaasen wicket and the SKY catch
For all the planning and tactical nous involved in the game, a World Cup final between heavyweights like India and South Africa, especially in the T20 format, was always going to come down to fine margins and the little things, individual moments of brilliance that would end up having a defining impact on the game. Several such moments came in the last four overs of South Africa's chase.
Following Bumrah's 16th over, Rishabh Pant went down with a knee niggle and required some treatment. It gave India a breather, breaking South Africa's momentum. The first ball after the break, Klaasen nicked a very wide ball from Pandya behind to Pant. The break in play might not have been the cause of Klaasen's wicket, or it might have. Either way, intangibles like these often end up having a greater impact on games of such magnitudes than one imagines.
With 21 to score from 13 balls, new batter Keshav Maharaj ran a single off Bumrah. It brought the target down by a run, but it also kept Miller away from the strike until the fourth ball of the 19th over. Miller, one of the most dangerous batters in the world, watched from the other end as South Africa scored two runs in six balls.
A run-a-ball 30 became 26 off 24, which became 22 off 18, eventually ending up to be 16 off six. Pandya had the ball in hand, Miller was on strike. Miller has been at the end of T20 run-chases like these countless times. It was his territory. When he skied a wide full toss down the ground, it looked like it would go for six.
But Suryakumar Yadav, often unfairly criticised for "not showing up when it matters", ended up taking what Ian Smith on commentary described as "one of the geatest catches in cricket history" to effectively end Miller and South Africa's hopes and seal the World Cup win for India.
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