The star of India bowling, Jasprit Bumrah has felt short of words to describe how thrilling the victory for India has been in this ninth edition of the T20 World Cup in 2024, in the West Indies and the United States of America (USA). This is his first-ever ICC trophy, whereas India grabbed it for the second time, since winning it back in 2007.
India came into the final of the competition, on the back of their unbeaten run, where they blew away Ireland, Pakistan, and the United States in the group stage of the competition, before getting the better of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Australia in the ‘super eight’ stage of the event.
Once they reached the semifinal of the competition, it was all about whether they could hold the nerve for better performances against England at the Providence Stadium in Guyana, and they did it brilliantly, to earn a huge 68-run victory.
‘A dream realized; nothing is going to top this’- Jasprit Bumrah
The role of Jasprit Bumrah for the whole tournament with the ball has been just incredible, and it’s quite fascinating to think how he always comes into a tricky situation, even after knowing that the team and the captain trust him to get some result of the situation, he still goes on to do the same.
Winning the toss, India captain Rohit Sharma opted to bat first at the iconic Kensington Oval, in Bridgetown, Barbados, where the slow and dry surface was expected to make the chase quite tricky towards the end if they reached to a total of 170-175.
India found themselves under early pressure, having lost three quick wickets, in the form of Rishabh Pant, but most especially their captain Rohit Sharma, who has been giving them great starts in the powerplay against the new ball, and Suryakumar Yadav, who is expected to play some terrific knocks at that situation.
But it was Virat Kohli’s 76-run knock that pushed them to 176/7 in their 20 overs, along with vital hands from Axar Patel’s 47-run knock and Shivam Dube’s 27-runs in 16 balls.
Jasprit Bumrah, and as he does, giving India good starts, stood on his work, and sent back Reeza Hendricks early in the defense, and gave away only 12 runs in the first couple of overs in the powerplay. That was the point when the Proteas needed to recover a little at that time, and they did.
When Heinrich Klassen smashed Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav all around the park to bring down the equation to 30 runs being required in 30 balls, it felt like the Proteas would have a cakewalk in the chase, but then came Jasprit Bumrah again.
A couple of singles and two runs means he conceded just four of the 16th overs, to increase the pressure for a bit. With South Africa going with Marco Jansen at number seven, it was a short batting order, and someone was needed to get the getter of Jansen. Who would have been better than Bumrah himself at that point?
The Ahmedabad-born picked up his wicket and gave away only two runs, both single off that over, to finish with figures of 2/18 in his four overs. Jasprit Bumrah ended the T20 World Cup 2024, with 15 wickets in eight innings, at an economy of a tad over four, and an average of just over eight, with a best of 3/7.
Also Read: T20 World Cup 2024: Jasprit Bumrah Sheds Light On Importance Of ‘Accuracy’ More Than ‘Magic Balls’
Coming into the social media, he shared the feeling of the win, and how this moment would be on the top for a while.
‘Words cannot fully describe what this means to the team and to me. A dream realized; nothing is going to top this for a while.’ The ‘Player of the tournament’ wrote on his ‘Instagram’ account.
India went on to win the game by seven runs, as they ended their 11-year-old drought of winning an ICC trophy.