India crowned champions after clinching thrilling ICC T20 World Cup final

India won the T20 Men’s World Cup for the second time after clinching a thrilling win against South Africa.

Rohit Sharma walks away from the crowd just for a moment with himself. He can’t hide his tears himself. A look towards the heaves as if to validate that there is a God after all. After multiple heartbreaks, multiple knockout eliminations, India’s cricketers can cry happy tears after all. A teardrop trickles down Virat Kohli’s eyes too, he’s chased after this trophy since 2009, and finally he can get his hands on it probably in the twilight of his T20I career. ‘Lehra Do’ blares through the loudspeakers as all these Indian players just take a moment to themselves and acknowledge what they have acheived. For a country crazy behind its cricket and emotional about their cricketers, the whole of India will be feeling just one emotion tonight – jubilation!!

 Arshdeep rolled the ball back to the bowler. Pandya is seen sobbing uncontrollably like a child. Rohit went flat on his back – head down and is seen shaking his head after he gets up. A tear or two from the Indian captain too. The Indian support staff run all the way to the players to hug and celebrate. Dravid envelops Kohli in a hug, the latter visibly relieved, did he too shed a tear or two?

 Meanwhile in the South African camp it’s opposite reactions – Miller is near the LED boundary hoardings head down unable to believe what has just happened. With India still celebrating and with South Africa coming out, waiting to shake hands, Rohit asks his players to come down for those rituals. Siraj is crying his eyes out too. Rohit hugs Kohli with both emotional. Rohit then folds his hands and does a namaskar to presumably someone up above. What scenes. This is what elite sport is all about.

Now to the game. India managed to get 176 runs on the board as Virat Kohli scored his first fifty of the tournament. He anchored through after Rohit and Rishabh were put early, and many might have questioned his intent had the result gone the other way, but for now it will be celebrated as a master knock by the man who knows exactly how to accelerate in this format. Shivam Dube and Axar Patel got handy contributions for India too. In reply, Hendricks was knocked over by a superb Bumrah outswinger and Markram fell cheaply as well.

However, Stubbs played well against the spinners and got South Africa in the ascendency after the powerplay. He was dismissed but de Kock and Klaasen stitched together a partnership. Klaasen was in a murderous mood as he got to a 23-ball fifty, and took down Axar for a 24 run over.

The equation was down to 30 off the last five overs, but India’s pacers managed to pull a real rabbit out of the bag. Hardik got Klaasen, then Bumrah knocked over Jansen as South Africa felt the pressure. Arshdeep then bowled a brilliant penultimate over, conceding just 4 and Hardik Pandya bowled like a champion to close out the game and give India a win by 7 runs. Lots of presentations lined up, hang around…

And what about Hardik Pandya, trolled incessantly during the IPL both personally and professionally, he has come up with arguably the World Cup winning moment by getting Klaasen out. At that stage, South Africa needed 30 off 30 and crucially there was a break in play with Pant receiving attention. That break potentially disrupted South Africa and Klaasen fell next ball, from there, India turned it around dramatically to win from nowhere. Coming back to Pandya, the tears at the end when he sobbed so much showed how much this meant to him.

Maybe it was written in the stars that he had to do it for India after all the stuff he had to go through in the last 6 months. He has kept a dignified silence all through that period when it wouldn’t have been easy at all. Lesser mortals would have succumbed. Not Hardik. Today is about life coming full circle for him. And then the tears did not stop. Fitting finale for a man who has come clutch at the right time when India needed it most.

Now to the game. India managed to get 176 runs on the board as Virat Kohli scored his first fifty of the tournament. He anchored through after Rohit and Rishabh were put early, and many might have questioned his intent had the result gone the other way, but for now it will be celebrated as a master knock by the man who knows exactly how to accelerate in this format. Shivam Dube and Axar Patel got handy contributions for India too. In reply, Hendricks was knocked over by a superb Bumrah outswinger and Markram fell cheaply as well.

However, Stubbs played well against the spinners and got South Africa in the ascendency after the powerplay. He was dismissed but de Kock and Klaasen stitched together a partnership. Klaasen was in a murderous mood as he got to a 23-ball fifty, and took down Axar for a 24 run over. The equation was down to 30 off the last five overs, but India’s pacers managed to pull a real rabbit out of the bag. Hardik got Klaasen, then Bumrah knocked over Jansen as South Africa felt the pressure. Arshdeep then bowled a brilliant penultimate over, conceding just 4 and Hardik Pandya bowled like a champion to close out the game and give India a win by 7 runs. Lots of presentations lined up, hang around…

Courtesy…