The Bollywood actress, Anushka Sharma has congratulated the India team, under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, for earning their second T20 World Cup, after lifting the trophy in 2007, in the inaugural edition, and thus ending an 11-year-old wait to win an ICC tournament in the history.
India came so close in 2014, when they became the runners-up of the tournament against Sri Lanka, while their two losses in the semis in 2016 and 2022 against West Indies and England respectively broke many hearts for the team and their fans.
But however, this has been excellent in this T20 World Cup. They started the group stage of the competition with an unbeaten run, against Ireland, Pakistan, and the United States of America, before carrying the same energy even in the ‘super eight’ stage of the competition against Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Australia.
India join England and West Indies with two T20 World Cup titles
The question before the semifinal of the T20 World Cup 2024, at the Providence Stadium in Guyana against England, was whether they could carry the same momentum under pressure. They did, and that too from a s struggling situation, thanks to Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit himself.
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On a special occasion, on a slow and low track, he won the toss and decided to bat first. Four to five boundaries at the first seven or eight balls in the innings put India to a flying start in the game, but they suddenly lost three quick wickets, to find themselves under tremendous pressure.
Then it was the moment when Virat Kohli decided to hold one end and kept on taking the singles and doubles to deny pressure on the scorecard, while on the other hand, it was Axar Patel, who smashed a quick-firing knock to put up a 72-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Then after the dismissal of the latter, Shivam Dube came and looked to smack from the very first ball. Kohli came under a little bit of pressure with the boundaries getting dried, but he stood there and smashed a few boundaries towards the end, to end with a 76-run knock, to push them to 176/7 in their 20-overs.
The way South Africa started, for a moment it felt like they knew how to chase this score on a tough surface. Then, came the moment of Heinrich Klassen, who went after the spinners with a brutal force, and nailed them for constant boundaries one after another.
The question came down to 30 runs being required with 30 balls to spare, and it was both Klassen and David Miller in the crease, Hardik Pandya was introduced into the attack, and it broke the partnership with the wicket of Klassen.
Jasprit Bumrah came from the other end and gave only six runs in his last 12 balls, including the wicket of Marco Jansen, which shows how thin the batting line-up of the Proteas team was. With 16 runs being required in the last six balls, Suryakumar Yadav grabbed a sensational catch at the boundary line. That catch would be compared to Kapil Dev’s catch that he grabbed in 1983 to send back Viv Richards.
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And Hardik held his calm to earn a seven-run win for the team to deliver for the country, at the end of what has been a nightmarish two-three months for him, both on and off the field.
‘Our daughter’s biggest concern was if all the players had someone to hug them after she saw them cry on tv. Yes, My darling, they were hugged by 1.5 billion people. What a phenomenal victory and what a legendary achievement!! CHAMPIONS – CONGRATULATIONS!!’ Actress Anushka Sharma remarked on his social media handle.
With the win, two giants of Indian cricket, both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have also called their time from International T20 cricket, to end their careers on a high.
