The Indian team, under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, have made their way into the final of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States of America (USA) on the back of their semifinal win over England at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. Their final will be against South Africa, led by Aiden Markram.
In the highly intense game against the Jos Buttler-led side, India was asked to bat first on a dry surface, as they put on 171/7, thanks to the twin half-centuries from Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav. The rest of the batting line-up showed their value with the intent of batting, as the defensive cricket seemed to have been erased in Indian cricket.
In the chase, England just decided to make a steady start, once they lost Buttler, the whole batting order fell like a pack of cards before the spinners and gifted India a 68-run victory to get knocked out of the tournament.
India decided to cancel practice to offer players enough rest before the final
Axar Patel, coming into the powerplay, bowled his first three overs superbly to pick up wickets in each of those three overs, to end with figures of 3/23 in four overs, at an economy of under six. After winning the ‘Player of the Match’ award, he spoke about how he felt that India were 10-15 runs ahead after the first innings.
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‘I think we could have easily defended at 170. It was a very good score. The way the wicket was behaving, when we spoke to Rohit [Sharma], he said it was very difficult to hit a big shot because the odd ball is spinning and the odd ball is also staying down, skidding on.’ The left-arm spin all-rounder Axar Patel expressed at the post-match presentation ceremony. ‘So that was our thought that 150-160 is a very good score, we can defend it. So, when we made 170, we knew that we made 10-15 runs more.’
It will be their third T20 World Cup final, after winning the title at the first shot in 2007, and feeling short in 2014 against Sri Lanka. Before the final, the concern for India would be the form of Virat Kohli, and how would he come back in the final of the competition.
‘You know with Virat, the thing is, when you play a slightly high-risk brand of cricket there can be times when it doesn’t come off.’ The head coach of the India team, Rahul Dravid addressed after the game.
However, because the game ended so late due to rain, the team traveled to Barbados on a charter flight in the evening and decided to give the players enough rest for the vital final game. The players have been part of back-to-back games already from the ‘Super Eight’ stage of the event.
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‘India have cancelled their training session.’ The official of the International Cricket Council (ICC) remarked.
South Africa on the other hand, finished their semifinal win over Afghanistan at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad, late Wednesday night, after which they decided to travel to Barbados. But they have their share of troubles, as they were stranded in the airport for several hours, after a landing failure of a small private aircraft at the Grantley Adams Airport.
The final of the tournament will be played on June 29, at the Kensington Oval, in Bridgetown, in Barbados.
