The former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has praised the match-winning catch from Suryakumar Yadav on the first ball of the last over during the Men’s T20 World Cup final between India and South Africa at the Kensington Oval, in Bridgetown, Barbados, where the former earned a seven-run victory, to lift their second title of the tournament.
Opting to bat first on a slow and low dry surface, India went off to a flying start thanks to the struggling over from Marco Jansen, as Virat Kohli took full charge of it, to nail him for three boundaries in the very first over of the contest.
But soon, the blue brigade lost three wickets in the powerplay, two of which were the captain Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav- both of whom were coming into the encounter on the back of a terrific form with the bat in hand.
Ricky Ponting lauds Suryakumar Yadav’s ‘clarity of mind’ for sharp catch
But Kohli and Axar Patel, who got a promotion in the middle order, stitched a valuable partnership for the fourth wicket, where it was mainly Patel who was firing the big shots, while the former India captain was busy in rotating the strike and moving the scorecard forward.
Also Read: Suryakumar Yadav Says He Knew He Hadn’t Touch The Rope While Taking David Miller’s Catch
Interestingly, after Axar got out, it was Shivam Dube who joined Kohli in the middle and used his power to whack the big shots quite regularly. Virat notched up his slowest fifty of his T20I career and later started to smack Kagiso Rabada for a few big shots in the death overs, as India was pushed to 176 in their 20-overs.
Jasprit Bumrah offered India a great start with the ball, sending back under-performed Reeza Hendricks, while Aiden Markram too followed him soon in the dressing room. Quinton de Kock was smashing the odd boundaries, to keep the required run rate under check, while after his dismissal, the wicket-keeper batter Heinrich Klassen went mad after the spinners.
Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, or Ravindra Jadeja- none of them had any answer to that winding-up batting. But once Hardik Pandya dismissed Klassen, the onus came on David Miller to save the game, and at last, it was the catch from Suryakumar Yadav that sealed the game for India.
Pointing describes the moment of his eyes while being in the commentary box, and getting the reaction of the catch from the other commentators.
‘Well, I didn’t actually see it (Suryakumar Yadav catch) because I was sitting at the back end of the commentary box. And the ball was coming straight towards me, so I jumped up, but there were about ten people in front of me.’ The former Australia captain Ricky Ponting expressed to ICC. ‘But once I heard the reaction from the other commentators, I was like okay I get to look at this on replay, but yeah, look amazing I guess.’
The veteran points out the important ingredients to grab those sorts of terrific catches under pressure, which was done amazingly by Suryakumar Yadav.
Also Read: Suryakumar Yadav Opens Up On His Superb Catch In T20 World Cup Final
‘Clarity of mind, to be able to understand where he was, taking the catch the way he did, keep his balance so beautifully and outside the rope, back inside the rope, you know.’ The former Tasmania batter remarked. ‘T20 games, you can hang by a thread, and quite often little moments like that can be the difference between winning and losing a game.’
He also spoke about that catch would be the moment of the final, that helped India lift the trophy at the end.
‘That one today could have been the difference between winning and losing a World Cup, not just a single game.’ Ponting reflected. ‘So, extraordinary catch, and I think out of all the replays and things that come out of this final, I think that’s the one, we will probably see the most.’