The Indian team has finally ended their jinx. It has taken them 11 tough grinding years to end their wait of lifting an ICC trophy, and the India pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who won the ‘player of the tournament’ is yet to feel the moments of the victory, as they earned their second T20 World Cup, after a wait for 17-years, since winning it in the inaugural season.
It was a fitting final for the competition, as two of the unbeaten teams made their way into the final of the tournament. India, under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, has won all of the group stage games against Ireland, Pakistan, and the United States of America, and the ‘Super Eight’ competition, where they got rid of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Australia.
On the other hand, the Aiden Markram-led side too has gone through a very sweet time in the middle, having won seven games in total at the group stage and the ‘super eight’ department of the competition. For the whole tournament, they held their nerve in a crunch situation.
‘There is no batter feeling than that’- Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah feels that even though he has won the ‘player of the tournament’, it’s the contribution of the whole team to being calm in those nervous moments to help them in securing the victory for the Indian team.
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Under blue skies and on a dry, low, and slow surface at the Kensington Oval, in Bridgetown, Barbados, the captain of the blue brigade Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bat first, expecting the track to get tricky towards the back end of the innings, in chasing anything over 170-runs.
But they felt the pressure from the beginning. India had a supreme start in the first over, where Virat Kohli nailed Marco Jansen for three consecutive boundaries, but quite smartly the opposition introduced the left-arm spin of Keshav Maharaj into the attack during the second over.
Rohit Sharma, who has been giving India great starts in the powerplay against the new ball looked to sweep and found the fielder, while Rishabh Pant couldn’t come up with anything special. Some excellent tactical captaincy against Suryakumar Yadav and bowling from Kagiso Rabada sent the batter back to find India three down inside the powerplay.
That was the moment when Virat Kohli decided to glue up one end till the 20th over, and he first partnered Axar Patel, who had a great hand to the former India captain with his aggressive brand of cricket, in a 72-run partnership for the fourth wicket. After the dismissal of the latter, it was Shivam Dube, who found himself in a 57-run stand for the third wicket to push them to the 176-run mark.
Jasprit Bumrah spoke about how they were a little nervous towards the middle overs of their bowling when South Africa came all guns blazing.
‘It hasn’t really sunk in because you know, midway through the innings, we were confident but the way it was going, we were a little nervous, but yeah, really happy to get a win like this.’ Jasprit Bumrah expressed to the ICC media at the end of the game. ‘It has been a great tournament. There is no better feeling than it. To contribute to a win like this, there is no better feeling than that.’
He also shed light on being calm under pressure with all the expectations on them and sticking to the process.
‘Absolutely exceptional. All praises come short, the way we played, and held our calm with expectations, and we stick to our processes, and even in the last stages where it seemed a little glim, we didn’t panic. Word fall short.’ The Ahmedabad-born Jasprit Bumrah reflected.
‘It’s been great. You know, all of them were really confident, and the variety that they bring, and the confidence that they have to execute on the big stage, that’s brilliant to see, and there is no better feeling than this.’ Jasprit Bumrah concluded, defining the contribution from Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya at the death overs.
