India finally ended their 11-year-old drought of winning an ICC trophy, as they clinched the Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, by getting the better of South Africa, at the Kensington Oval, in Bridgetown, Barbados, as it also ends their 17-year-old wait for winning their cup of the tournament, since earning the title in the inaugural edition of the event.
India came into the final of the tournament with an unbeaten run as they got the better of Ireland, Pakistan, and the United States of America during the group stage of the competition, while their only game in Florida against Canada was a wash-out affair.
Once they reached the ‘super eight’ round of the competition, the question was whether India could hold their nerve under pressure, and they did, against Australia, and England in the semifinal of the event, before breaching the same line against the Proteas in the final.
Kuldeep Yadav remarks on India’s celebration style of lifting the title
When Rohit Sharma lifted the trophy, a small debate started on the various social media platforms about whether it was pulled perfectly from how the superstar Lionel Messi did after winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup or was designed by ‘Ric Flair Strut’.
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However, the Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav cleared the air while interacting with the Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi, on July 04 at the PM’s residence in New Delhi.
The video has gone viral where Kuldeep Yadav has been seen suggesting to the India captain the style of lifting the trophy while receiving the medals of the players in the presentation ceremony, in the same way as Messi did two years back for Argentina in lifting the FIFA World Cup, beating France in Qatar.
The Uttar Pradesh-born was seen to show the steps of the footballer too. The WWE legend Ric Flair however has seen the video of India’s captain celebrating in lifting the World Cup and feels that it was taken from his book.
The debate continued to grow, as the PM asked Kuldeep about how he planned to ask the captain to make such celebrations.
‘How dare you make the Indian captain dance?’ the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed looking at Kuldeep during the interaction.
‘When Rohit told me that we should be doing something (celebration acting style), I made a suggestion, but he did not do it the way I told him.’ The Chainaman bowler remarked as the whole room busted into laughter.
Earlier during the conversation, Rohit Sharma was asked about how it felt to win the trophy, and was it planned to make that special celebration while lifting the trophy.
‘It was such a big moment for us. We had been waiting for this for so long.’ Rohit remarked. ‘The players suggested just don’t walk up to the stage in a usual way and attempt something different.’
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At the end of the game, the India captain, along with Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja also brought curtains down in the career from the shortest format of the game. The team, under Rahul Dravid, decided to go with a new template and an aggressive mindset, especially during the powerplay overs.
Someone needed to raise their hand and it was their captain Rohit Sharma, who charged on the bowlers against the new ball to offer the team the vital momentum to be ahead in the contest from the beginning, something which they missed in the last edition of the tournament.
With the retirement of the three senior players, India can now plan for the next T20 World Cup 2026, to be played at home and Sri Lanka, with new young faces in the side.