The ‘Player of the Match’ in the final of the Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, Virat Kohli, with his 76-run knock in 59 balls has helped India win their second title in the tournament against South Africa, at the Kensington Oval, in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Coming into the final of the tournament, Virat Kohli wasn’t enjoying a sweet form in the tournament, having collected only 75 runs in the first seven innings of the competition, at an average of under 11, and a strike rate of exactly 100, with a best of 37 against Bangladesh at the Sir Vivian Richard Stadium in Antigua.
But going into the last huddle, and one of the most important games in a tournament, the focus was on Virat and his unbelievable character of being calm, and understanding the situation and the weight of the expectations from the fans around the globe, under pressure.
‘We are deeply touched and overwhelmed with the happiness’- Virat Kohli
For the whole tournament, Virat Kohli was trying to smash the boundaries from the very first over, with an aggressive mindset, and that too because India asked for the role from him, thanks to having a new template of playing the 20-over format.
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Kohli started brilliantly against a struggling Marco Jansen, who didn’t find his line and length in the very first over of the game. The batter flicked the ball through square leg for a boundary, before opening the face of the bat to guide the wide ball through point region for the same result. Once he went forward and pushed the ball for a straight boundary, one could sense the old Kohli being back.
But in the second over, despite the good start with the bat, India lost two wickets, one of which was of their captain Rohit Sharma, who for the whole tournament was giving them aggressive starts in the powerplay against the new ball.
Three over later, Suryakumar Yadav too took the path back to the dressing room, as the nerves of all the batting failure in the final of an ICC tournament got life among the Indian fans.
What India did right at that point was promote the left-handed batter Axar Patel, whose role mainly was to smash the ball from the other end, while Virat Kohli was rotating the strike, with singles and doubles. But the best part of his batting was the lack of dots. In 48 balls, he celebrated his slowest fifty in his T20I career, while Shivam Dube, after Axar’s dismissal cracked a few vital boundaries.
India finished on 176/7 in their 20-overs, and once two early wickets fell for the Proteas, it felt like they would fall short quite easily. But the power-hitting batter of the opposition, Heinrich Klassen nailed the India spinners all around the park, and with 30 runs being needed in 30 balls, the game was drifting away from the Indian team.
But Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, and Hardik Pandya managed to get them back in the contest with their variations, to record a seven-run win.
The Primer Minister of India, Narendra Modi congratulated Virat Kohli for his excellent knock in the batting during the final.
‘Glad to have spoken to you. Like the innings in the Finals, you have anchored Indian batting splendidly.’ PM Narendra Modi expressed this on his ‘X’ handle, formerly known as Twitter. ‘You’ve shone in all forms of the game. T20 Cricket will miss you but I am confident you’ll continue to motivate the new generation of players.’
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Virar Kohli has thanked him for the wish, besides addressing how privileged it was to be a part of the team that has brought the cup home.
‘Dear @narendramodi thank you so much for your very kind words and your support and encouragement always. It has been a privilege to be a part of this team which has brought the cup home.’ The 35-year-old reflected. ‘We are deeply touched & overwhelmed with the happiness it has brought the entire nation.’
With the end of the T20 World Cup winning campaign, Virat Kohli has called his time from T20 Internationals.